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Addison-Wesley Publishing Company

CAROL KAEHLER

HyperCard"
Power

Techniques and Scripts

Foreword by Bill Atkinson

HyperCard
Power:

Techniques

and

Scripts

HyperCard'
Power:

Techniques

and

Scripts

Carol Kaehler

Foreword by
Bill Atkinson

Illustrated by
Kristee Kreitman and
Marge Boots

Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, inc.

Reading, Massachusetts Menln Park. California New York
Don Mills, Ontario Wokingham. England Amsterdam Bonn
Sydney Singapore Tokyo Madrid Bogota Santiago San Juan

Many of the designations used by manuhicturers and sellers to disliiigiiish their prtiduets
are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear m this book and Addison-
Wcsley was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed in initial
capital letters (i.e., MacPaint).

HyperCard is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc.

The representations, opmions and views stated herem are solely those of the author in
her individual capacity and do not represent and are not intetided to represent the opin-
ions and views of Apple Computer, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-iti-Publication Data

Kaehler, Carol.
HyperCard power.

On t.p. the registered trademark symbol "TM" is
superscript following "HyperCard" in the title.
Includes index.

1. Macintosh (Computer)— Programming. 2. HyperCard
[Computer program) I. Title.

QA76.S.M3K34 1988 005.36'5 H7-30664

ISBN 0-201-06701-3

All n^Uti reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, ot transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy-
ing, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Printed in the United States of America. Published simultanetiuslv in Canada,

Technical Reviewer: Louella Pizzuti
Cover design by Dolibet SkefHngton
Text design by Christy Rosso
Set in 12-point Sabon by Compset, Inc.

ISBN 0-201-06701-3
ABCDEFGHIJ-HA-S98
First printing, March, 1988

for Ted

Contents

Foreword xiii
Preface xx
Acknowledgments xxvi

Introductioa HyperCard: A Visual

Information Organizer 1

Creativity and Sharing Information
A Common Currency
Who This Book Is For
From User to Author: The Continuum
How to Use This Book
How This Book is Organized
Before You Start

Part One Using HyperCard 1 1

Chapter 1 Browsing HyperCard 13

Meet HyperCard!

Stacks: Ordered Colleaions of Cards
Using the Go Menu to Get Around
Using the Keyboard to Navigate
in HyperCard

Chcking Buttons
HyperCard Buttons

Finding Text

viii CONTENTS

Adding Your Own Text
Editing Text
Summary

Chapter 2 Customizing Stacks

Using the Paint Tools to Add Pictures

Adding Pictures to the Weekly Calendar
Borrowmg Pictures dial Already Exist
Card or Background Picture?
Making the Card Picture Opaque
Using the Temporary Layer
Giving Yourself More White Space

Using the Field Tool

Enlarging the Text Field
Adding Text to the Field
Customi7.mg the Way the Text Looks

Using the Button Tool

Navigating with Buttons
Creating a New Button

Using a Button Icon

Linking the Button to Another Card

Summary

Part Two Becoming a HyperCard Author

Chapters Building Stacks »'

Borrowing
Collecting

Making Information Your Own

Stardng a New Stack

A Copy or a Shell

Starting with a Stack Idea

Building a Personal hiformation Base
Adding a New Text Field
Setting Properties for a Text Field
Adding Cards to the Stack
Deleting the Fields You Don't Need
Adding More Cards

Adding a Background Button that's Linked
to a Specific Card
Building a New Monthly Calendar
Trying the Buttons

CONTENTS IX

Copying a Button from the Button
Collection
Summary

Chapter 4 Designing New Stacks 1^

Thinking About What the New Stack Should
Do

Creating a New Address Stack
Why Create a New Stack?
Getting Information about Stacks
Adding Clients' Names
Deleting Cards

Ordering and Sorting New Stacks
Designing the Way the Bill Looks

Changing the Background Picture
Designing the Buttons

Getting Rid of Buttons You Don't Need

Moving Buttons on the Card
Using Paint Text

Identifying the Fields

Adding Your Business Logo
Adjusting the Text Fields

Creating a New Field
Filling in Amounts Due

Moving among Fields
Adding Information for Other Clients
Adding the New Stack to the Home Card

Adding a Picture to Represent Your New
Stack

Adding a Button that Goes to the New
Stack
Printing the Bill
Summary

Part Three Scripting

Chapter 5 Gaining Power with Scripts

HyperTalk Scripts

Using the Message Box

Asking What Time or Date It Is
Asking Where the Mouse Is
Asking What the Current Tool Is

CONTENTS

Asking the Name of Objects
The Card Is the Most Basic Object
Calculating
Training Buttons to Issue Commands tor You
The Button Dialog Box
Message Handlers: Who Has Control?
Naming Objects
Naming Hierarchies
Absolute vs. Logical References
Looking at a Script HyperCard Wrote for You
Modifying Existing Scripts
A Script that Sorts Cards
If . . . Then . . . Else Control Structure
Editing the Script to Sort by Date
The Objects Menu

Any Object Can Have a Script
Where to Put a Script
Messages the System Sends
Putting a Message Handler Lower m the
Hierarchy

Going to Another Slack Within a Script
Summary

Chapter 6 Expanding a Stack's Capabilities 22:

Making the Client Stack More Powerful
Creating a Button that Totals a Bill
Editing a Button's Script
Creating a Button that Subtracts Payments
Sending a Message to Another Object
Creating a Bunon that Moves Current
Charges into Past Due
Keeping Permanent Records

Creating a New Stack Using the Current

Background
Moving Old Records into the Client

History Stack
Printing your Client Histories
Summary

Chapter 7

Practical HyperCard Tricks

Text and Graphics: A Good Marriage

Restraint and Other Design Guidehnes

264

CONTENTS xi

Starting Simple

Layers and Backgrounds

Background and Card Pictures
Background and Card Buttons
Bring Closer and Send Farther
The Order of Objects on a Card
Using More than One Background
Adding a New Background to a Stack
Adding Backgrounds by Copying a Card
More than One Stack
Real Text and Paint Text

Fancy Fonts and Freedom from the System

File
Shared Text
Lining Things Up
Lining up Paint Text
Aligning Pictures You Cut and Paste
Visual Effects
Animation

Keeping Track of Buttons

Buttons under Construction

Card or Background Buttons

Creating Big Background Buttons
Controlling Headers
Keeping Your Stacks Private
Using Pop-up Fields
Sorting Tricks

Creating a Hidden Field to Sort By
Summary

Chapter 8 Hooked on Scripts

Where to Put a Script
Inheritance

System Messages and What Triggers Them
A Moment in the Life of HyperTalk
Scripts You Can Use

Choosing a Command

Choosing a Tool

Searching a Script for Text

Finding Backgrounds

Merging Sracks

Displaying Windows on a Large Screen

A Spreadsheet

The Target

Push and Pop Card

xii

CONTENTS

Finding Where a Message is Defined

Adding a Card

Plots

Playing a Tunc

Limiting the Scope of the Find Command
Generating Bar Codes
Automatic Indexing
A Pictorial Index
Summary

Chapter 9 Talking to the Rest of the World 353

The Scrapbook and Notepad
Opening Other Applications
Importing and Exporting Text
Importing and Exporting Pictures
Networks: AppleTalk, Phone Lines
Sound
Summary

Afterword 365

HyperCard and Hypermedia

Education

Form and the Shape of Content
Gathering

Becoming a MinimaUst
Annotation

Appendix 1: HyperCard Windows and

Commands 373

Appendix 2: HyperTalk Commands 396

Appendix 3: Moving Resources 414
Appendix 4: System Requirements and

Comforts 418

Index of Hints 420

Index 427

Foreword

HyperCard — A Software
Erector Set

The Macintosh dream really centers around putting personal
computing power in individuals' hands. The Macintosh has
done a lot of that by using graphics, a mouse, a consistent
user interface and direct manipulation metaphors to make
the computer more usable by a non-computer nut. In so
doing, it unfortunately has made the job of writing programs
for Macintosh much harder.

Writing a Macintosh application requires a professional pro-
grammer with a year's commitment to learning the Macin-
tosh toolbox. That has brought us farther from our goal. In

XIV FOREWORD

some ways the Apple II was closer to allowing indi-
vidual people to have control of the machine, because
they could type in a few lines of Basic.

What I hope HyperCard will do is complete that
Macintosh dream of putting the power in individual
people's hands. HyperCard is a software "erector set,"
where you can draw things the way you do in
MacPaint and use copy and paste buttons, where you
can put together information organization systems
that allow individual people to get control of their
Macintosh.

You will start by using the stacks that come with
HyperCard, by modifying them in small ways, then
in larger ways. Then you will learn about the painting
tools and add graphic embellishments and eventually
add your own buttons and make your own stacks.
Some of you will go on to create professionally pro-
duced stacks for sale. A lot of you will customize your
environment the way you like it and will make indi-
vidual applications that you will use for yourself.

Text, Graphics, and
Interaction

Information on computers has moved from being just
ASCII text to information that includes text and
graphics. That step has made the information much
more accessible and has also fostered the desktop
publishing industry. The next step in making infor-
mation more accessible is to include text, graphics,
and interaction. That's one of the ways that
HyperCard hopes to lead the industry and pull all the
computer companies toward a new expectation, a
new level of what information is on personal com-

TEXT, GRAPHICS, AND INTERACTION

puters. For instance, a 1040 form with rhc lints and
boxes is more understandable than if you just had the
text there. The graphics gives it more understanda-
biHty. But if you extend that to a 1040 form with
interactivity that helps you fill out the form, of course
it's even more digestable; the information is more
accessible.

So one of the things that HyperCard is trying to do
is raise the level of art — raise it to where people ex-
pect information to be interactive. The second thing
it's trying to do is raise the level of expectation about
customizability. When you get an application, if it
isn't quite what you want, you're not stuck with it.
People now take a kind of fascist approach to soft-
ware, not because they want to, but because they
have to write one program that will solve 100,000
people's needs (in order to pay back the development
costs). Instead, there should be one program that
would be useful to 100,000 people, but is customiz-
able so that each of those people with their slighdy
different needs can tweak it and bend it to be their
own.

As I menrioned, HyperCard is an "erector set" for
software. When you buy a regular erector set, it has
boxes of parts, nuts, bolts and a screwdriver, and
also, importandy, it has a brochure of things that
were built with this erector set. It has a picture of a
litde truck and a windmill. You start by building the
truck and the windmill, exactly as in the pictures.
Then you customize a litde bit. You make a long bed
truck, and then you branch out into making your
own things from scratch. The stacks that come with
HyperCard are the brochure. They're ready-to-work
samples that teach you how to use HyperCard. They
are working things that you start modifying a litde

xvi FOREWORD

bit, and eventually you btiinch out into making your
own stacks with your own ideas. They teach you how
to use HyperC^ard.

The erector set analogy goes further. You get boxes
of parts in HyperCard. You get a box of art parts that
you can copy and paste; you get a box of Stack Ideas
that you can go and say, "Yeah, I want one like that;"
you get a box of buttons thar you can go through and
say, "Yeah, I want the dial button." When you copy
and paste one of those buttons, it comes complete
with its "brains" and is ready to work. It knows how
to dial. Its as though the parts in the parts ho\ came
with motors and batteries included. This enables peo-
ple — without any programming experience at all — to
put together things that are re-active and interactive.
You make stacks that have "life" to them. They're
beautiful because you have tools with which to draw
and make original illustrations, and they are interac-
tive because you can copy and paste buttons that do
something.

There is another way that HyperCard is an improve-
ment over the t)riginal erector set. First, you don't run
out of parts. One of the first things that happens
when you use an erector set is that you run out of a
piece of a particular size. Because you are always
making copies in HyperCard, you never run out of
that piece. In an erector set, if the right shaped piece
didn't come in the set, you have no way to create it.
HyperCard's pieces are themselves built out of a gen-
eral language that allows you to make and customize
your own pieces. You can take any button that's al-
most what you want, go inside it with the scripting
language, and modify its behavior a little bit to be
exactly what you want it to be. You start by modi-
fying the buttons. You're looking inside them, learn-
ing how they work, and how you can customize them

THE HYPERCARD PROJECT XVll

a little bit. The script says, "Visual effect scroll right"
and "go to previous card." You can see you might
change that to "visual effect dissolve, go to next card"
or something like that. With the HyperTalk language,
the scripting language, there is really an unlimited
range of growth within HyperCard. How much a
button can do is open-ended.

The button library that comes with HyperCard has a
hundred or so buttons in it. After HyperCard has
been out for a year, a rypical button library that a
person has will contain thousands of buttons. They
will have collected these neat buttons that somebody
wrote. It doesn't cost anything to share your buttons,
because you can peel off infinite copies for free. Mak-
ing a copy of your button doesn't diminish your own
library.

1 envision that the erector set approach will allow a
lot of people who have no control over their com-
puter now, who are just using applications the way
they came, to be able to get the feel that they are
working their computer, rather than that the com-
puter is working them.

The HyperCard Project

The first thing Carol Kaehlcr and I worked on to-
gctbcr was the MacPaint manual. We had a great
ttmc working together on that, and that's why I chose
to have her do the Help System for HyperCard. She's
good.

While I was developing early versions of HyperCard,
Carol was my heavy user. I remember very clearly
sorring out some of the rough sketch ideas for the
Help system. We actually had some paper cards that

xviii FOREWORD

we spread out on the floor, subdividing what was to
be taught. There was a lot less to be taught then, and
the structure had to be revised a lot as we went
through. But the basic shape, the structure, is still
there.

Carol was a prototypical user. If she couldn't use
something, I changed it! She was a guinea pig of the
first magnitude. She was sensirive to what things she
didn't get and why they were confusing. We'd talk
about tbem, I'd come back with another try, and
she'd make suggestions. Some of them would be right
on, and I'd say, "Yeah, that's great." I'd put it in and
try it and we all liked it. But with some things she'd
ask for I'd say, "That's beyond the scope of what
we're going to do in this project." However, as the
project grew and grew in scope, a lot of her sugges-
tions got included. For example, it was her pleading
for mulriple backgrounds per stack that contributed
to that happening.

The HyperCard team has been very close. We've
spent a lot of time together, and a lot of time talking
about what-ifs. And a lot of time imagining what our
customer is going to be feeling. We've been spinning
a lot of dreams for people who'll be using
HyperCard.

At one point we were going to try to switch over from
a card metaphor to a book metaphor. Wc were going
to use the library card catalog, shelves, books, chap-
ters, etc. At a certain point, however, we just realized
that, really, a stack of cards was a much better met-
aphor. People just don't feel good tearing out pages
of books and sordng the pages of a book. The stack
of things was a much more general metaphor. You
could think of a stack of books, you could think of a
stack of slides, you could think of a stack of records.

THE HYPERCARD PROJECT XIX

The card as the basic entity just seemed a lot more
maleable and flexible to handle different information
situations.

Carol knows the tips and tricks inside HyperCard,
and she shares them with you in this book. Spend an
afternoon with Carol in HyperCard — and you will
learn a lot!

— Bill Atkinson

Preface

I mcr Bill Atkinson when 1 joined Apple's Macintosh team in
September, 1982. Chris Espinosa, who had been around Ap-
ple since childhood (both his and Apples), had hired me to
write the Macintosh owners guide — the book that would
teach new users the basics of using the mouse, creatmg and
editing documents, and managmg the desktop.

Macintosh Retreat,
September 1982

My arrival at Apple coincided with a retreat where the 70
members ot the new Macintosh division were to spend two
intense days sharing their progress, pointing to areas of po-

MACINTOSH RETREAl , SEPTEMBER 19S2 Xxi

tential problems, and getting agreement from the rest
of the groups about what we were going to do in the
next year. The groups represented hardware, soft-
ware, marketing, pubhcations, industrial design,
manufacturing, finance, and human resources.

Blue and white baseball caps were passed out on the
bus. "Macintosh division" printed across the front
announced that Macintosh had been made official.
We drove south along the PaciHc Coast to Pajaro
Dunes, California, the "traditional" Silicon Valley
conference site, and settled into salt-air weathered
condominiums. Later that afternoon, the first of the
groups began their presentations- First came the Mar-
keting folks — with the standard outline of goals and
strategies, and a comparison of the Macintosh to the
Cuisinart as an affordable, powerful appliance "for
the rest of us" based on familiar metaphors such as
the desktop. As the first days sessions concluded I
braced myself for the second day — what I thought
would be a dry set of technical presentations from the
Engineering groups.

But this group of engineers seemed very different
from those I'd encountered before. The mood was in-
tense, but it had nothing of the flavor I expected from
traditional engineering types. Each speaker outdid the
one before in irreverance, flamboyance, or wryness.
It was as if they had pondered the thought of pre-
senting the dry facts and had cast the plan aside to
present, instead, something totally unexpected from
a hardware or software engineer.

Wben Burrell Smith, the designer of the main logic
board (the hardware that holds the main processor
and memory), came up for his turn, instead of pre-
senting the specifications for the logic board, he

played his guitar. Jerry Mannnck, the industrial de-
signer of the boldly different Macintush case, ap-
peared in a Scottish tarn, complete with tassel, and
"hammed" his way through a skit that was reminis-
cent of an initiation into Camp Fire Girls. To a hack-
drop of recorded bagpipe music, he concluded,
"Repeat after me: you will not change the design, you
will not change the design. ..." Bill Fernandez, lab
manager and another Apple old-dmer, joined Burrell
in an impromptu blues harmonica and guitar duo.

Debi Coleman, then financial controller of the Mac-
intosh division, announced the results of the "Mac
Man" contest, tallied from votes for the sexiest man
in the division. (The official winner was the hand-
some industrial engineer Bill Bull, although it was
later rumored that Steve Jobs had actually won by a
landslide.)

When I was introduced as the newest writer in User
Education — having been there just one day — Randy
Wiggenton, the author of MacWrite, unhesitatingly
hooted, "What's she written so far?" The ennre group
was like that — boisterous and irreverent, full of one-
liners and quick comebacks. I was getting slighdy
nervous. These people were very smart and very
cocky and many of them didn't think the Macintosh
even needed to have a user's manual. What was I
doing there anyway? Bewildered by RAM and ROM
and logic boards, I sank into my seat, looked art^und
me, and longed for a friendly face.

Much later I understood why Chris had hired me to
write the owners guide, though I'd never used a per-
sonal computer and had written only one small book
that explained to nonprogrammers how to slog
through JCL (an unforgiving, unfriendly language
used to control IBM mainframe computers). The

MACPAINT XX111

Macintosh wasn't a traditional computer, and the
Macintosh team didn't want it described in tradi-
tional computerese. The Macintosh was the com-
puter "for the rest of us" and part of the rest of us
were people who didn't care to deal with computers
that made us learn their language.

During a break in the sessions I sought out Bill At-
kinson. My husband, Ted Kaehler, knew Bill from his
work on computer recognition of speech with George
White at Auricle. Ted, who was then a member of the
Smalltalk group at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center
(PARC), had told me that Bill was a great program-
mer and a thoughtful, intense man worth seeking out.

MacPaint

After talking to Bill briefly that day, I didn't see much
of him for several months. He was buried in the in-
nards of QuickDraw, and I was immersed in writing
the owner's guide. About six months later, I found
him at the back of the Macintosh building on Band-
ley Drive in Cupertino. He was demonstrating an
early version of the MacPaint that he was writing. I
was waiting for the Finder to be complete enough to
write about; Chris Espinosa suggested I spend some
time with MacPaint.

Chris had designed an overall plan for all the Mac-
"" intosh manuals. They would be slim, straightforward

volumes divided into three parts— a brief tutotial, a
"cookbook" with various tasks laid out step by step,
and a standard reference section. I set about fitting
the MacPaint manual into this design.

A few weeks later I nervously handed Bill a draft of
the manual. It led the reader through designing a let-

xxiv PREFACE

terhead. It explained each drawing tool, seleaing and
modifying, copying, pasting. Bill arrived back at my
office about a week later, looking not too happy. He
insisted the book design wasn't right for MacPaint.
MacPaint, he said, was an application that demanded
exploring, with just a few hints for not getting lost in
the exploration. After I took a few hours to recover
from the total change in direction, I created a startup
screen that said

Think Graphic!
Whenever I switched my Macintosh on to work on
the book that message greeted me and drew me back
to the simple principles of helping the exploration
process without getting in the user's way.

Beyond MacPaint

With MacPaint, Bill had begun to move outward
from the inner mysteries of QuickDraw, which does
the most basic job of putting bits on the Macintosh
screen. With MacPaint he had begun to share the
power of the Macintosh by handing users the paint-
brush. What would be the next step in Bills personal
.evolurion and its expression in Macintosh?

Keeping it simple, allowing learning by exploration,
and presenring a highly graphic interface are the Bill
Atkinson traditions that are self-evident in Hyper-
Card. But beyond that, with HyperCard, Bill has un-
leashed a lot more of Macintosh's power, and he has
shared it with all of us. Now it's possible for everyone
to enter the "priesthood" of programmers by follow-
ing a gentle path of ascent. Now we can all mold and
shape how the Macintosh presents and organizes
information.

COMPLEXITY AND SIMPLICITY XXV

Complexity and
Simplicity

On one side of Bill's computer sits a six-inch-thick
notebook filled with a listing of the HyperCard pro-
gram. On the other side is a sheet of paper with just
a few items written on it — things for him to think
about while he's finishing up the product.

Speed it up

Keep it simple

Ship it on time.
Bill's trademarks are a balance of complexity and
simphcity, and a willingness to do whatever needs to
be done to get the job done right. Bill has very high
standards for himself and the people he works with,
and he commits his seemingly boundless energy to
maintaining those standards. He's willing to hang in
there doing work that many people would consider
too menial, and he stays with it until it's as good as
his standards demand.

1 used to wonder, when people recalled years after
their experience with great men and women, if they
had known at the time what they were experiencing.
Did they savor the encounters, did they really "get
it?" Or did they invent the exhilaration years later in
retrospect? With my eyes wide open these past two
years, I've known without a doubt that every minute
of working with Bill has been a gift.

It's not unusual to find programmers with the tech-
nical skill to control a computer. What is much rarer
is the good judgment this magician brings to the task
of knowing what the computer can do to empower
people. HyperCard is the pinnacle of his skill and
good taste, and it's a gift to everyone who uses the
Macintosh.

Acknowledgments

This book ruse out of exuberance for HyperCard and for
Bill Atkinson. He has been both an unequaled teacher and a
rambunctious cohort. And this book wouldn't have been
written without Ted Kaehler, whose intelligence, calm, and
support have pervaded the entire HyperCard project. Ted has
inspired and taught me and many others along the path to
programming. His ability to look at things without presup-
posirion and to propose preposterous soludons causes great
things to happen. He is my hero.

Credit goes also to everyone else on the HyperCard team-
Dan Winkler for writing a language nonprogrammers could
love, Krlstec Kreitnian and Marge Boots for the graphics that
make HyperCard come alive, Adam Paal for the beautiful

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

XXVll

fur
J a
;en
nd
las
to
ip-
t;at

.lid
ful

printed page, Chris Espinosa for making al! of it
really happen, and Bill Fernandez for his uplifting
spirit. Thanks also to Scot Kamins, James Redfern,
David Leffler, Sioux Lacy, Steve All, Mike Farr, Bob
Eddings, Rohin Shank, Gary Bond, Phil Wyman, Ka-
ryn Gray, Cliff Guren, Mike Holm, Ken Rosen, Ken
Doyle, Mary Sinclitico, and Laura Atkinson (for dis-
covering katyatutu).

Chris Espinosa taught me a lot about writing for the
Macintosh. Joanna Hoffman persuaded Chris to read
my resume, and Caroline Rose, Lynnea Johnson, and
Pam Stanton-Wyman shared those early Macintosh
years with strong constitutions and good humor.
Thanks for that.

Thanks also to Martha Steffen, who steered me in the
right direction, and to Sue Espinosa, Mike McGrath,
and rhc rest of Apple Customer Publications and
Computcr-Bascd Training for making it possible for
me to pursue this adventure.

Connie and Gordon Nashy always thought I could
do anything. That came in handy. Mark and
Sarah Embury put up with take-out food and parents
whose default conversation subject has been
HyperCard for the past two years. Mark read and
tested early drafts of this book. Sarah lent her artistic
flourish.

Louella Pizzud provided comic relief as well as a tech-
nical review of the manuscript; Molly Tyson men-
tioned me in her book; analogies were inspired by
Roy Ginsburg; Lani Blazer stuck it out with us.

Finally, thanks to Steve Stansel, Carole Alden, Linda
O'Brien, Alexandra McDowell, and Maeve Cullinane
of Addison-Wesley. Their professional sensibilities
pointed me in the right direction when I veered.

Introduction

"If you're going to
look at ail of human
knowledge, you
might leant to have a
way to organize it."
Bill Atkinson

HyperCard: A Visual
Information Organizer

Imagine a bulletin board strewn with cards — 3" x 5" index cards, busi-
ness cards, scraps torn from a notebook, meeting announcements,
and real estate listings. "House for Rent" is neady printed on one
card, "Violin for Sale" is scrawled on another, a third card an-

INTRODUCTION [ HYPERCARD: A VISUAL INFORMATION ORGANIZER

nounces in delicate calligraphy a meeting of amateur
photographers-

So far it sounds like an ordinary bulletin board. But
as you approach this bulletin board you notice pieces
of string leading from card to card, connecting one
piece of informadon to another. A string tacked to
the Violin for Sale card leads to another card with a
violin for sale at a lower price. Two different strings
from the second card go to a card with other musical
instruments for sale and to an orchestra soliciting
new recruits. The card with the house for rent leads
to another house for rent in the same part of town
and to a house in the same price range. So as you
follow the strings, you move easily to just the infor-
mation you need. And when you don't feel like fol-
lowing the strings anymore, you just browse through
cards that catch your eye, discovering things you
didn't even know you were looking for.

Now imagine this magic on your Macintosh.
HyperCard is an organizxr for any kind of informa-
tion, h provides the string that ties information to-
gether among the various cards. It's a freeform data
base, a tool for education, illustration, and presenta-
tion, a record keeper, an authoring system, a pro-
gramming language, and probably many things that
haven't yet been thought of. HyperCard is amazingly
fast at finding what you're looking for and flexible
enough to hold whatever kinds of cards you can
dream up. Information doesn't have to be sorted into
the "right" categories. It's more like jotting something
down on a card and sticking it on the bulletin board.
Except that you can find it again!

Most of us are already deluged with more informa-
tion than we want. But HyperCard puts us in control

CREATIVITY AND SHARING INFORMATTON

of this mountain of inforniLTtion. It lets us get at and
organize just what's important to us — information
not only on hard disks and networks but on video-
disks and CD ROMs as well.

With HyperCard, you don't have to choose between
text and pictures. For the first time, combining text
and pictures in the same application is not only pos-
sible, it feels perfectly natural.

Creativity and Sharing
Information

To get an idea of how HyperCard can spark imagi-
nations and create forms that are more than a sum of
their parts, imagine a group of three- and four-year-
old children sitting around a table with masses of clay
in front of them. You can learn something about crea-
tivity and sharing informauon by observing these
young artists. One child fashions a pitcher out of clay
Her neighbor looks over and says to herself, "Maybe
I could do that!" But her piece comes out a little dif-
fcrcndy — she can't get the pitcher's spout to stand up
hke that so she bends it around, and the effect is a
graceful variation of the original. By now the other
kids have started their own variations, observing, im-
itating, and modifying their pieces of art to suit them-
selves. (They haven't yet heard about the problem of
people "owning" their ideas.) All the artists copy, im-
prove, try wild departures, alternately coming to-
gether to share and then going off alone to pursue
their own aesthetic senses.

Information thrives in a setting where it isn't limited
by standards of form and traditions of presentation.

INTRODUCTION I HYPERCARD: A VISUAL INFORMATION ORGANIZER

A database comes alive when it doesn't have to lock
each piece of information into a previously defined
field that has a strict definition of the information it
contains. HyperCard lets all kinds of information
emerge in its new forms, modeled by HyperCard au-
thors, shared with other users, and remodeled by
budding authors into still newer and perhaps better
forms.

A Common Currency

HyperCard's architecture and interface make it easy
to exchange, organize, and present information. Be-
cause HyperCard stacks (the equivalents of docu-
ments in other applications) share a common data
format, you can trade or sell them to anyone who has
HyperCard. This combination of an extremely broad
user community and consistent (yet mightily flexible)
format promises to bring about a new commodity
called stackwar^^ — information that is accessible to
anyone who has a Macintosh with HyperCard.

This stackware has a number of advantages over tra-
ditional forms of information exchange. Because
HyperCard allows fast and freeform searching— find-
ing text in whatever form it takes (rather than just a
certain exact pattern of letters following letters)— ifs
much better than using a book when you want to
look something up. Because tbercs no preset struc-
ture you have to follow for designing new stacks, you
can create stacks that funcTrion exacdy how you want
them to, and because of HyperCard's built-in paint-
ing tools, you can make stacks be as beautihil as they
are useful.

FROM USER TO AUTHOR; THE CONTINUUM

Who This Book Is For

This book is for anyone who wants to know more
about HyperCard — cither to customize stacks for
your own use or to learn how to design your own
stacks from scratch. It covers all the basics and in-
cludes many shortcuts and hints gleaned from a year
and a half's intensive work with HyperCard in de-
signing the Help system. Although this book is not
primarily about the HyperTalk language, it gendy in-
troduces scripting so that nonprogrammers can easily
learn to incorporate HyperTalk into their own
scripts. Complete command function and system
message descripdons are also included in an
appendix.

From User ro Author:
The Continuum

You might start by using HyperCard to browse
through information that someone else has prepared
and presented. But it's easy to get hooked on the
power of HyperCard. Here's how it can happen: You
add your own friends' names to an existing stack of
name and address cards. Then you decide to custom-
ize the cards by adding pictures to some of them. You
decide it might be handy to check your appointments
against your husband's appointments, so you use the
HyperCard "string" to link the two appointment
books together. Then you redesign the appointment
book to make it show two weeks at a glance, because
that's how you visualize time. . . . Pretty soon you'll
wonder if HyperCard can help you keep track of
your Christmas lists or your financial records, or if

INTRODUCTION I HYPERCARD: A VISUAL INFORMATION ORGANIZER

you could use it to run your small catering business,
and by then it's too late. You're hooked on the power
of controlling the information in your computer.

HyperCard is preset to let you browse or type. As you
become more familiar with the way HyperCard
works, you can change your user level to match the
power you want. Figure I. l shows the User Prefer-
ences card and what each of the levels include. Wien
you're ready for more power, go to the Preferences
card by choosing Home from the Go menu. Then
choose Last from the Go menu to go to the last card
in the Home stack— the Preferences card, where you
can chck the level you want to be at.

How to Use This Book

HyperCard itself allows freeform exploration, but it
also has a built-in progression from browsing infor-
mation to modifying it, and finally, to writing scripts.
This book follows that same progression. You don't
have to read it strictly in the order presented, but the
chapters are laid out to gradually expose you to
HyperCard's power.

You can also find topics easily by using the table of
contents or the index. Hints are scattered throughout
the book and summarized at the back of the book for
quick reference.

How This Book Is
Organized

This book unfolds HyperCard's gentle path from
browsing through information to customizing it by

HOW THIS BOOK IS ORGANIZED

File Edit Go Tools Objects

Type ypjr
nam*- f^ere -

no ttjil tditirtg
Edit I lit —

Button and -
Ffdd tool!
available

The Home stack (Preferences)

Set preferences on the last card in the Home stack.
Get there qulcKJy witti @ --tH and then

-User Name:

User Leuel:
— O Broiusing
—O Typing
— O PoEnting
-~0 Huthoring
— ® Scripting

PDUier Keyt

Blind typing

Edit icripli Tijp. Jliiflta chartct-r-s-
for Paint commandi

~3r~TiJpt hijri*rTalk convnandfl v1th
\^ Mtssagf bo* hidden

FIGURE I-l The User Preferences card is the last card in the Home stack. Get
there by choosing Home from the Go menu and then choosing
Last from the Go menu. The five user levels let you add capabilities
as you become increasingly familiar with HyperCard.

adding and editing text and graphics, to copying and
modifying buttons and fields, to creating new stacks,
and finally, to writing scripts using HyperTalk —
HyperCard's built-in programming language.

Chapter 1, "Browsing HyperCard," is a short guided
tour of HyperCard. In this chapter you'll see
HyperCard's basic elements— stacks, cards, buttons,
fields, and the tools you use to manipulate them.
You'll discover how to navigate among cards and
stacks using the Go menu and clicking buttons. You'll
find out about searching for text using the Find com-
mand. This chapter also includes a summary of the
standard Macintosh techniques HyperCard uses for
adding new text and editing what's already there.

INTRODUCTION 1 HYPERCARD: A VISUAL INFORMATION ORCANIZER

In Chapter 2, "Customizing Stacks," you'll see how
to use HyperCard's built-in painting tools to add your
own pictures to the stacks that come with Hyper-
Card. You'll experiment by drawing your own pic-
tures, and you'll see how to borrow pictures that
already exist in HyperCard stacks such as Art Ideas
and Clip Art. And while you're learning how to copy
and paste existing art, you'll see HyperCard's calen-
dars. This chapter introduces the idea of "layers" —
the concept that lays the groundwork for understand-
ing how objects are related to other objects and to
what you see on the screen. You'll also use the Field
tool to add a new text field, and you'll use the Button
tool to create a button that takes you from one card
to another.

Chapter 3, "Building Stacks," shows you how to use
the collections of stack "seedlings" included in special
collection stacks. You can use these seedlings to build
your own custom stack. This chapter leads you
through building a personal information base out of
one of these seedlings to building a new calendar out
of another.

In Chapter 4, "Designing New Stacks," you start a
new stack from scratch. Using the example of a small
business, this chapter shows how you can use
HyperCard to keep track of people and money. While
Chapter 3 shows you how to borrow an idea and
change it, this chapter uses the "build-it-from-the-
ground-up" approach.

Chapter 5, "Gaining Power with Scripts," introduces
HyperTalk, HyperCard's language. You start by using
the Message box to send simple messages that take
you to other cards and stacks or that ask the time or
date. And then you look under the hood of an exist-

BEFORE YOU START

ing button to see the script that tells HyperCard what
to do when you click this button. This chapter ex-
plains what Message Handlers and other control
structures are, introduces a few basic commands, and
shows you how HyperCard uses names to designate
the various objects that can have scripts — buttons,
fields, cards, backgrounds, and stacks.

In Chapter 6, "Expanding a Stack's Capabilities," you
see how a design can grow along with your needs and
expertise. You make the stack you started in Chapter
4 more powerful, using more HyperTalk commands
in new scripts that you add to the stack's objects. You
also find out how to send a message to another ob-
ject. (Easy!)

Although hints and tricks are scattered throughout
this book, Chapter 7, "Practical HyperCard Tricks,"
is a compendium of not-so-obvious techniques that
can save you time and help you produce more elegant
stacks.

Chapter 8, "Hooked on Scripts," is a collection of
annotated scripts, some included with HyperCard
and some contributed by early HyperCard hackers.
Examining and modifying other authors' scripts can
be one of the best ways to learn how to write your
own scripts.

Chapter 9, "Talking to the Rest of the World," tells
you how to get information into and out of
HyperCard.

The Afterword looks at some of the implications of
using hypermedia.

The Appendixes include HyperCard Windows and
Commands, HyperTalk Command descriptions

10 TNTRODUCnON I HYPFRCARD: A VISUAL INFORMATION ORGANIZER

and examples, Moving Resources, and System Re-
quirements and comforts.

HyperCard requires 1 megabyte of memory. This
means at least a Macintosh Pius or a Macintosh up-
graded to 1 megabyte and equivalent ROMs. Al-
though a hard disk isn't stricdy required, you'll
probably find yourself wanting one as soon as you
begin using more than the Address and Appointment
stacks.

Before You Start

HyperCard relies on the Macintosh clock being set
correctly. (It uses the clock setting to determine the
correct time and date for some of its fields and for
the calendars to work right.) Check that your Alarm
clock is set correctly by choosing it from the Apple
menu and clicking numbers to reset it if necessary.
{See your owner's guide for details.)

Because HyperCard automatically saves any changes
you make to stacks as you're working {and without
asking), you need to make a copy of any stack you
don't want to accidentally alter. You can copy stacks
in the Finder in the usual way to make a backup, or
you can use the Save a Copy command within
HyperCard to make a backup copy. Save a Copy
makes a copy of the entire current stack but does not
automatically switch you to that stack. (This is dif-
ferent from the Save As command in many applica-
tions.) Rather, you continue to work on the original
stack. If you want to work on the backup copy, use
the Open File command to open the backup copy.

Part One:

Using HyperCard

Chapter 1

"Can / help you?"
"No, I'm just
hroivsing."
Anonymous shopper

Browsing HyperCard

Meet

HyperCard!

Cllfndar

Your first experience with HyperCard can change your mind forever
about what a Macintosh application should be. You see familiar ele-
ments everywhere — text, pictures, commands, palettes, and all the
Macintosh conveniences you already know and love. But something's

CHAPTER 1 BROWSING HYPERCARD

different. With HyperCard, text and pictures are to-
gether in one place, and you can move through infor-
mation of any kind with the ease and editabiUty you
never had before, searching for exactly the informa-
tion you want or clicking buttons that can take you
to all kinds of interesting information you didn't even
know was there.

When you start HyperCard by double-clicking the
application in the Finder, you don't open a blank doc-
ument as you do when you open other Macintosh
apphcations. Instead you step into an inviting visual
directory called the Home card — the first card in the
Home stack. (A stack is the HyperCard equivalent of
a document.) The Home card is shown in Figure l.l.
The Home stack is a good place to start exploring
HyperCard and it's also an easy-to-get-to home base
whenever you're using HyperCard.

You don't have to start HyperCard from the Finder
by opening the applicadon itself. You can also
open any stack directly if you want to, just as you'd
open any document you create with any applica-
tion. Each HyperCard stack is represented in the
Finder by an icon that looks like a stack of cards.
If you open a stack directly, HyperCard will get the
global information it needs from the Home stack
and then take you direcdy to the stack you opened.

MEET HYPERCARD! 15

* File Edit Go

FIGURE 1-1 rhe Home Stack is .i vismil Jireclory of the stacks you use most
often. Clicking any picture takes you to the stack the picture
represents.

Stacks:
Ordered
Collections of
Cards

You can use HyperCard to organize any information
you want to browse through and keep track of. Each
stack is an ordered collection of cards. Usually the
cards in a stack have something in common with each
other; they belong together for one reason or another.
A stack might be any of the following: a collection of
name and address cards; an appointment calendar
with cards for the various days, weeks, or months; a

CHAPTER 1 BROWSING HYPERCARD

6 File Edit Gd

FIGURE I -2 Cjnis within a hjck!;roiiiid shitre the nunc look lvi\iiise lln-y nsf a
common background picture, bar exainjAc. each card in this
appointiiifut stack looks like a page in an appuhnnieiit book.

photo collection; an atlas; or even a library card
catalog.

The cards in a single stack generally have the same
look. They get this look by sharing a common back-
ground picture. Each address card looks like other
address cards, and the pages in a appointment book
all look as if they belong together. Figure 1.2 shows
a card from an Appointment Book stack.

Each card in a stack can have its own picture as well
as a background picture shared with the other cards.
Of course, cards in a stack can have text as well as
pictures. Figure 1.3 shows an Appointtnent Book
stack. Text has been added to the blank card to cus-
tomize it with appointments, and the HyperCard

MEET HYPERCARD! 17

' t File Edit Go Tools Paint Options Pntterni

FIGURE 1-3 ImiiL-'iitua! cards can also have a picture of their own. Yoii can use
any of the Paint tnnls to create new liicliires or copy and paste
pictures from other stacks or MacPaint documents. On this card,
the painthriish ivas used to circle an important meeting.

built-in Paintbrusii tool was used to circle an impor-
tant meeting.

Using the Go Menu to
Get Around

There are plenr\' of ways to get around in HyperCard.
You may have read the Introduction stack and the
Help stack to learn how to get around by chck-
ing buttons and arrows. The Go menu also helps
you navigate among stacks and within the current
stack.

The Go menu is just for navigating among the cards

18 CHAPTER I I BROWSING HYPERCARD

and stacks on your disks. (Even in HyperCard, you
can be in only one place at a time.) Even if you've
used the Open Stack command in the File menu to
open stacks on other disks and wandered around in
them, you can always choose Home from the Go
menu for type Command-H) to get to the familiar
Home card.

The Home card is the first card in the Home stack.
It contains pictures of some of the cards you'll
probably use often. Clicking on a picture takes you
to the stack represented by that picture. But the
Home card doesn't necessarily represent every
stack you have created on your own disks. To see
the actual stacks on your disks, use the Open Stack
command in the File menu.

The Go menu takes you to other places as well as
Home. The Back command takes you back to the
card you most recently looked at. Help takes you to
the first card in the Help system. (If the disk that con-
tains the Help stacks isn't currently inserted, it will
present the standard file dialog box and ask you to
point to Help.) Recent shows you the 42 cards you've
seen most recendy. First and Last take you to the first
or last cards within the current stack.

Home, Help, First, Next, Previous, and Last are sta-
tionary points within the HyperCard stacks. Where
you go when you choose one of them depends on the
pre-existing structure of the stacks and where you are
within them. But the Back and Recent commands re-
fer you to different cards, depending on where you've
been. Back and Recent move you through dme rather

USING THE GO MENU TO GET AROUND

than structure position. They're a httle like the
crumbs Hansel and Gretel dropped to find their way
hack again (except that they never get eaten by the
birds.)

Pressing the key at the top left corner of the key-
board (the rilde/accent grave key or the Escape key)
tetraces your steps exacdy — going back through
each card you've seen. (Wlien you're using a Faint
tool, you press the Command key as well as the
tilde key to do this.) So if you've gone back and
forth between two cards several times, retracing
your steps with this Go Back key will take you to
each card as many times as you were there origi-
nally. However, the Recent dialog box displays
each recent card just once. So if you've flipped re-
peatedly between a couple of cards, choose Recent
from the Go menu to save time in retracing your
path.

Using the Keyboard to
Navigate in HyperCard

Although HyperCard stacks can be huge and varied,
you'll never feel lost because you can always get back
to the last card you were looking at (or the one before
that, and before that, up to the most recent 42 cards
you've seen). And if you've been exploring for awhile
and want to get hack Home, there are easy ways to
do that also. Here's an overview:

20 CHAPTER 1 I BROWSING HYPERCARD

Use the key on the top [eft corner of key-
board (the tilde/accent gr;ive key or the
Escape key if you have a newer key-
board} to move backwards through the
cards you've seen before. It's the same as
choosing Back from the Go menu, and is
quicker. This key is sometimes referred
to as the Go Back key.
Use the left and right arrow keys (some-
times called cursor keys) to move
through cards in the current stack. Use
the right arrow to go to the next card,
the left arrow to go to the previous card
(in their stack order).
Use the up and down arrow keys, if you
have them, to go back (the down arrow)
or forward again after you've gone back
(the up arrow).

Use Command-down arrow to push a
card. Pushing a card tags it as a card you
want to come back to later. Use Com-
mand-up arrow to pop back to the
tagged card.

To get back to the Home card, type
Command-H, or type Go Home in the
Message box and press Return.
To get to Help, type Command-?, or
type Go Help in the Message box and
press Return.

Clicking
Buttons

You can also use the Browse tool (it looks like a
hand) to dick buttons. Clicking a button tells

HYPERCARD BUTTONS 21

HyperCard to carry out any command built into the
button. One of the most common commands for a
button is to take you to another card— in either the
same stack or a different stack. For example. Home
buttons abound in HyperCard. Whenever you see a
small picture of a house, it's a safe bet that clicking it
will take you to the Home card. Navigating among
cards and stacks by clicking buttons is one of the
main ways to get to the information you need. Figure
1.4 shows a button in the HyperCard Introduction
stack. Clicking the top button takes you to a card,
shown in Figure 1.5.

You can also click buttons to open documents created
with applicarions such as word processors, spread-
sheets, data bases, or graphic applicarions, or to open
"mini-apphcarions" you create with HyperCard itself.
Figures ] .6, 1 .7, and 1.8 show you some examples of
the types of applicarions you can open from
HyperCard.

HyperCard Buttons

Along with pictures and text, buttons are one of the
three basic elements of HyperCard cards. Every Mac-
intosh application has buttons you click to OK or
Cancel an action, to Save a document, or to Open
another. But as you just saw, HyperCard buttons can
do a lot more. And they can look any way you want
them to look (see Figure 1.9).

Some have text that hints at what clicking the button
might do. Some look like ordinary Macintosh but-

22 CHAPTER 1 I BROWSING HYPERCARD

FIGURE 1—4 This card has several buttons. The arrows at the bottom of the card
take you to the previous or next card. The pictures at the left are
also buttons that take you to other cards.

EXPENSE REPORT week of December 8

B re a nasi

Lunch

Dinner

Haiti

Lniinctrg

Phone

Cor

Tai:i

Travel

Gifti

Faei

Enlrtmt

Mileage

Parking

ToUl

Mon Tues Wed Thur Fri Sal Sun

Total

12.47

i:,oo

21,90

93.00

90 .DO

1(6.00

8,00

1. 90

9.90

Ret^urn

1 "J ' 1 !37,27

Name /City /Hotel Royi:e Walthrop/Cupertino/The Silicon Sahara

FIGURE 1-5 Clicking the button shown at the tnp left of Figure I A takes you to
this card—an expense report fur keeping track of a business trip's
expenses.

HYPERCARD BUTTONS 23

'' # File Edil Search Character Paragraph Dpcument

Ch 1 BroLusIng

Chiplerl: Browsing Hype iCin —

fpsge) Chsplerl: Browsing HyperCird

Chapter 1
Browsing HyperCard

you.'"' "At' ihanks.< /'m ^'urt bJTJfWlttg'- "

Anonymous shopper

Meet HyperCard!

Your first experience with HypeiCsrdun ch>nge your mind forever •bout
what sMndntosh ipplicilion should be like. You see fnmilinr elemenls
everywhere — leil, piclurcs, commands, psleMes, nnd all the Macintosh
conveniences you already know and love. But something's different. With
HyperCird lest and pictures are together in one place, and you can soil
through information of any kind with the ease and editabiUtyyou never had
before, searrhingforelBCtly the information you want or clicking but Ions thai
, run f» kp iTii^ tp -11 tii-H': fiF ini fn"!t 1 i ti foxin » t inn UOJ J -d idjiL'. FVcri . kun . v;

'e card
are

FIGURE 1-6 A HyperCard button can open a word processor or any other

application. When you quit the other application you come back to
HyperCard.

t File Edit Go Tools Objects

HyperCalc

Miles per yeer

Miles per geJlon
30

Pries per {ellon

1-50

Gallons per yeer'
666.666667

[lineZotrieW "MPY" / line 2 of field "MPG')

Cost per mile: n

□ .05

(line 2 or flsld 'PPG " / line 2 or field "MPC-)

Cost per yeer'

1000

(line Z of Held ■'GPY' » line 2 of field -PPG-)

FIGURE 1-7 You can use HyperCard to balance your books. This is a small hut
powerful spreadsheet built in HyperCard.

CHAPTER 1 BROWSING HYPERCARD

FIGURK 1 -8 A HyperCard stack thai teaches basic ear-training skills in music.

Clicking a mite an the kcyhuard shows the note on the staff, so
you can learn to correlate notes on the staff with their counterpart
on the keyboard. Clicking the note also plays it. so you can train
ytni ear to recognize pitches correctly.

tons. Some, like those on the Home card, are icons
representing the stacks they take you to. Some but-
tons—those in an adventure game, for example — are
intentionally hidden from view, and it's part of the
game to figure out where they are.

Hint

The best thing about HyperCard buttons is that
you can create them yourself. You use the Button
tool to copy or create new buttons (see Chapter 2)
and to modify the scripts that tell buttons what to
do (see Chapter 5).

HYPERCARD BUT T ONS

Finding Text

After you've browsed through cards by clicking but-
tons and choosing commands from the Go menu,
you'll probably want to start looking for something
specific. For example, rather than moving around in
the Address stack by clicking forward to the next card
or backward to the previous card, you might want to
look up someone's name or find a phone number. It
doesn't matter if you like to keep your Address stack
by last name and your spouse likes it listed by first
name. HyperCard can find what you're looking for
no matter what order it's in. The informadon doesn't
even have to be in the same order on all the cards — ■
HyperCard will still find it.

26 CHAPTER 1 I BROWSING HYPERCARD

Hint

Plan ahead. For instance, if you'll be sorting cards
and printing lists of cards in alphabetical order, it's
a good idea to enter them in a consistent form —
such as last name first or first name first. You may
also decide to put information in separate fields so
that you can print only the fields you want — just
names and phone numbers, say.

Searching for text in the Address stack

You can search for text while you're using any of the
HyperCard tools by choosing Find from the Go
menu. Here's how you might use this command to
find Steve's name in the Address stack.

1. Open the Address stack by clicking its icon on the
Home card.

The Address stack is represented by a small
picture of an Address card.

2. Choose Find from the Go menu.

HyperCard automatically switches to the
Browse tool (even if you don't have the Tool
window open) and the pointer becomes the
Browse hand. The Message box appears au-
tomatically whenever you go to the Address
stack, so you can easily look up someone's
phone number or address {see Figure 1.10).
But even if the Message box weren't already
visible, choosing Find from the Go menu
would display the box.

HYPERCARD BUTTONS 27

' i fi\e Edit Ga Tools Objects

This is the first card of the Address stacl<.

FIGURE 1-10 You tan hsc the Message box to specify text you want HyperCard
to find in the current stack. The text cati be anywhere on any card
in the stack. Pressing Return finds the specified text.

Hint

Whenever the Browse tools pointer is a hand,
HyperCard knows you're just browsing — clicking
buttons or searching for text — rather than editing
information that's already there or adding new in-
formation. The hand becomes an I-beam only
when it's positioned over a text field that you can
edit.

3. Type: Steve and press the Return key.

There is the card with your friend's name and
address. HyperCard takes you to any card

CHAin ER 1 BROWSINC HYPERCARD

that has the word "Steve" anywhere on it. It
doesn't have to he in any particular field and
it doesn't have to be capitalized the way
you've typed it. If it's somewhere on an ad-
dress card, HyperCard will find it. This fea-
ture is handy if you can only remember a first
or last name — or even just the town or street
name. If you want to find other occurrences
of text you're looking at, you don't even have
to type it in again. Just press the Return key
to see other cards with that text.

Hint

Holding down the Command key while you click
or drag across text on a card using the Browse tool
specifies that text and then places it in the Message
box, replacing any other selection there. This is a
quick way to find other occurrences of the text in
the stack.

Now suppose Steve's address is on Oak and you want
to find other Oak addresses in your file.

4. Select the word "Steve" by dragging across it.

5. Hold down the Command key while you click the
word "Oak."

HyperCard replaces the word "Steve" with the
word "Oak" in the Message box. This tech-
nique replaces selected text if there is any; oth-
erwise it replaces all text in the Message box,
including the Find command. If this happens,
choose Find from the Edit menu again, and
then Command-Click.

HYPERCARD BUTTONS 29

6. Press the Return key.

HyperCard finds the next occurrence of the
word "Oak" within the Address stack.

When HyperCard finds the text you're look-
ing for, it highhghts it by enclosing it in a rec-
tangle. If HyperCard can't find the text, it
beeps. {You might be tempted to say, "C'mon.
You didn't really look." It's that fast.)

Hint

HyperCard highlights found text by drawing a box
around it. The highlighting you're used to in other
Macintosh applications — black and white in-
verted—is reserved for selecting text or graphics
for further action such as copying or editing.

If you want to search another stack for "Oak," you
can open another stack and press the Return key
again. Even when you move from stack to stack,
HyperCard keeps the Message box open and any-
thing in it (such as the Find command) remains there.

HyperCard search rules

Here are the rules HyperCard follows when searching
for text:

• Wlien you choose Find from the Edit
menu, HyperCard presents the Message
box with the message: Find "|" There's
an insertion point between the quotes so
that you can type in the text you want
to find.

30 CHAP I KK I I BROWSING HYPKRCAKI)

HypcrCLird keeps "hint bits" to narrow down its
search. (Hint bits store information about patterns
of text that include three or more characters.) So
you can specify just the first three letters of the
word or words you're searching for. HyperCard is
much faster if you give it at least three letters at
the beginning of a word you're looking for. And
the more words or word beginnings you give
it, the faster and more selective ir is.

Type a few characters of one or more
words you're looking for. Then press
either the Return key or the Enter key to
search the current stack for the text you
specify.

HyperCard finds the first card that con-
tains the text you specified and high-
lights the first occurrence of the first
word you specified. (It doesn't matter
what order you specified. As long as all
the specified text is contained on a single
card somewhere in the stack, HyperCard
finds it.)

Hint

Sometimes the Message box appears automatically
because a button, card, or stack's script tells
HypetCard to display it.

If you press Return again, HyperCard
finds the next occurrence of the text, if
there is one, even though the Message
box may no longer be visible.

ADDING YOUR OWN TEXT

If you choose Find again, HyperCard
displays the Message box with the
text hif^h lighted that you previously
specified.

Clear the Message box by seiccring and
backspacing. It there's no insertion point
in a field, just Backspace or press the
Clear key.

Hint

You can t>'pe any command, such as Go Home, in
the Message box. An easy way to get to other
stacks, even those that don't appear on the Home
card, is to type Go followed by the stack name.
HyperCard will take you direcdy to that stack.

Adding Your Own Text

After youVe browsed awhile through the cards and
stacks that come with HyperCard, you'll want to add
your own information. For example, you'll probably
want to include your friends' names or your favorite
restaurants in the Address stack, and your own ap-
pointments in the calendars.

Hint

HyperCard automatically saves any change you
make. If you want to be able to go back to earlier
versions of stacks you've changed, be sure to make
a copy of the stack first by choosing Save a Copy
from the File menu before you change it. Then use
the Open Stack command to open the copy with
the new name you gave it.

CHAPTER 1 BROWSING HYPERCARD

Editing Text

Unlike many applications, HyperCard doesn't have a
rigid agenda for editing text. You don't have to start
by creating a new document, or specifying text fields,
or building documents to get going. You can simply
start by editing the information that's already there.

HyperCard is preset to keep you from accidentally
changing anything. There's a card in the Home
stack called User Preferences that lets you set the
level of power. Go to the User Preferences card —
it's the last card in the Home stack — by choosing
Home from the Go menu. Then press the left ar-
row key to go immediately to the last card. Set
your user level to Typing if it's not already set there,
to allow you to add and edit text in text fields.
Later you'll change this level to match the experi-
ence you've gained.

You can edit text in HyperCard the same way you
edit text in other Macintosh applications. Type, select
text, cut or copy it, paste it, delete it, or replace it.
When you've cut or copied text, the Paste command
in the Edit menu includes the word "text" to show
that you've cut or copied text rather than a picture, a
field, a button, or a whole card.

Text fields (and pictures) can be inherited by every
card in the stack, or they can belong to individual
cards. The text you type or paste into the fields be-
longs to that specific card. For example, in a stack of
name and address cards, each card in the stack has

EDITING TEXT

Hint

You can edit text wherever the pointer is an I-
beam. When you move the Browse hand over a
field that's not protected, it becomes an I-beam.
When you click in an unprotected field you get an
insertion point. To get the Browse hand back
again, just move the mouse out of the field.
HyperCard shows the I-beam over the field and the
Browse hand anywhere outside the field.

three fields (name and address, phone number, and
date) that are in the background and appear on every
card in the stack. But the text contained in each
field — the specific names and addresses — appears on
and belongs to one particular card.

Here's a summary of the basic Macintosh editing
techniques:

To copy text from one card to another (or to a differ-
ent place on the same card):

• Select text by dragging across it

• Choose Copy Text from the Edit menu
Go to another card

' Click where you want the copied text to
go

• Choose Paste Text from the Edit menu
To move text:

• Select it by draggmg across it

• Choose Cut Text from the Edit menu

• Go to the card you want to move it to

■ Click where you want to insert it

■ Choose Paste Text from the Edit menu

34 CHAPTER 1 I BROWSING HYPERCARD

To delete text:

• Select it by dragging across it

• Choose Clear Text from the Edit menu
or press the Backspace key

To replace text:

• Select it by dragging across it

■ Type the text you want to replace it with
or choose Paste Text from the Edit menu
to replace it with the text that you last
cut or copied

Press the Backspace key to erase a character you just
typed if you made a mistake. Add new cards as you
need them by choosing New Card from the Edit
menu. Delete cards when you no longer want them
by choosing Delete Card from the Edit menu. Don't
delete pre-exisnng cards yet — you'll need them for the
exercises in the upcoming chapters of this book.

Summary

In this chapter, you've learned how to move around
in HyperCard using buttons, the Go menu, and key-
board keys. You've learned how to search for text
using the Message box, and how to do some simple
editing tasks such as copying, moving, deleting, and
replacing text. You now may be itching to expand the
things you can do in HyperCard. How do you get at
the other tools? What about making some graphic
changes to the existing stacks, or crearing your own
new stacks? You're ready to move from browsing in-
formation to customizing stacks and cards. From
there, it's only a short step to creating your own
stacks. With HyperCard there's no line dividing users

SUMMARY 35

of information from creators of information. There's
just a seductive path on which HyperCard's power
unfolds. And as you begin to uncover more of
HyperCard's power, you'll also begin to see your
own.

There's a phrase you often hear among HyperCard
users who are discovering their own power in con-
trolling the information in their computers, it starts
something like this: "I'll bet 1 could . .

The next chapter tells you how to make changes to
the existing stacks with graphics, how to change text
fonts, and how to create and use buttons.

Chapter 2

"The people who
make the changes are
the people who have
the knowledge."
James Burke,
Connections

Customizing Stacks

r — 1
1 1

L — J

1 1

HyperCard's power unfolds in a gradual and gende way, so you can
grow into the application at your own pace. You've started by explor-
ing, browsing through information in stacks that are already there.
Next you'll probably want to add some of your own information.

USING THE PAINT TOOLS TO ADD PICTURES

modifying or adding cards to existing stacks. No
doubt you won't be able to resist the familiar Paint
tools to doodle on some cards. You might try the
Field tool next, adding a new text field to a card in
the Address stack or an appointment hook. And
sooner or later you'll want to try your hand with
HyperCard's power tool — the Button tool. This chap-
ter guides you through these tools.

HyperCard stacks aren't ever finished. Stacks aren't
just created by creators to be just used by users. In
fact, with HyperCard there is no real distinction be-
tween users and creators, readers or authors. There's
just a steady progression (with an occasional leap)
from browsing through existing stacks to adding your
own information, to copying pictures and fields and
buttons, to thinking 'Til bet I could ..." With
HyperCard you can customize stacks to do exacdy
what you want.

Using the Paint Tools to
Add Pictures

You nodcc the Paint tools the first time you look in
the Tools menu. Most of them look like the tools
you're used to in MacPaint — for example, lines, rec-
tangles, paint brush, spray paint. But there are a few
new tools and a few enhancements to the way the
' familiar MacPaint tools work.

The differences between pictures in HyperCard and
pictures in MacPaint can make experiments a little
confusing until you understand how pictures work in
HyperCard. There are both background and card pic-
tures, and card pictures can be either transparent or
opaque. When drawing a picture on a card, you'll

CHAPTER 2 CUSTOMIZING STACKS

find the tools work just as you expect them to, and
you can learn the intricacies later.

Hint

For the most part, the Paint tools work like the
MacPaint tools you're probably used to. There are
a few new tools and also a couple of new con-
cepts—the idea of both a card and a background
picture on the screen at the same time, and the abil-
ity to make a picture transparent or opaque.

Adding
Pictures to the
Weekly
Calendar

You might start your artistic control of HyperCard
by using the Paint tools to add a picture to the weekly
calendar. For example, here's how you can circle an
important date on your calendar so that it's easy to
notice. You can consider the circle a picture because
you use the Paint tools to create it as a graphic image.

1. Go to the Home card (if you're not already there)
by choosing Home from the Go menu or pressing
Command-H.

This always takes you Home no matter where
you are in HyperCard.

2. Choose Last from the Go menu {or press Com-
mand-4) to go to the last card in the Home stack
where you can set your User Level Preference.

USING THE PAINT TOOLS TO ADD PICTURES

<t F^E Edit Go Tools ObJecti

User Preferences

User Name:

Uier Leuel:

O Broiuslng

O Typing

® Painting

Poiuer Keys

Huttioring

O Scripting

□ Blind Tgping

FIGURE 2-1 The User Preferences card is where you tell HyperCard hoiv much
power you want. You can start gradually by fiisl lypnig text into
existing fields, then add the Paint tools when yuu waul to add or
change pictures. The Authoring level gives you access to the Field
and Button tools. Scripting is for editing scripts using HyperTalk.

The Preference Card (shown in Figure 2.1) in-
cludes the five User Levels — Browsing, Typ-
ing, Painring, Authoring, and Scripdng. Each
level adds capabilities to what you can do
with HyperCard.

Hint

You can also get to the User Preferences card — the
last card of the Home stack— by pressing the left
arrow key while you're viewing the Home card
(the first card in the Home stack). And whenever
youVe at the last card in a stack you can get to the
first card by pressing the right arrow icon. Cards in
a stack are arranged in a circle.

40 CHAPTER 2 I CUSTOMIZING STACKS

3. Click Painting.

Notice the new menu that appears in the
menu bar — ^Tools. This menu contains the
Painting tools you'll use to paint on cards,

4. Check Power Keys by clicking the check box.

When you click Painting, you also get another
check box for Power Keys. Power Keys let you
perform commands on your painting by typ-
ing just single characters — for example, "s" to
select.

5. Go to the Home card by choosing Home from the
Go menu or pressing Command-H.

Choosing Home or pressing Command-H al-
ways takes you to the first card in the Home
stack. The Preferences card is the last card in
the Home stack.

6. Go to the weekly calendar by chcking its icon on
the Home card.

The calendar opens to the current week. (HyperCard
is smart enough to check the current date and then
take you to the appropriate week.) As you move the
pointer over various parts of the card, it becomes an
I-beam whenever it's positioned over a text field. This
gives you a clue that you can click in any of those
places and start typing text.

Hint

If the calendar doesn't open to the correct week,
reset your Macintosh clock by choosing Alarm
Clock from the Apple menu and clicking on the
numbers to change them.

USING THE PAINT TOOLS TO ADD PICTURES

Ifc Filp Filil r,ii Ti>rils

1987 June

Mon. 1

Tues.2

Wed. 3

□

Week
23

Thurs.-I

Fri.5

Sat. 6
Sun. 7

FIGURE 2-2

The weekly calendar is represented h\ a small picture on the Home
card that says "Weekly." Clicking the jiicliire. which is actually a
button, takes you tu a Weekly Calendar, where you can keep track
of afipttintments.

Figure 2.2 shows the weekly calendar with the
Browse hand. Moving that hand into any of the text
fields changes it to the I-beam pointer.

7. Flip to any card in the weekly calendar you'd like
to add a picture to.

You can move to other cards by using the arrow keys
on the keyboard (cursor keys) to move to previous
weeks (left) or forward to coming weeks (right). Or
use the Browse too! to click the arrow icons on the
screen to move in either direcdon. (If you keep click-
ing on the right arrow icon, you will eventually get
to the To Do cards and the six-month calendar
cards — they are all part of the Datebook stack.)

This chapter's example shows circling a date to re-
member, but you could add any picture to any day
you'd like to have a picture on.

CHAPTER 2 CUSTOMIZING STACKS

You never have to choose Save in HyperCard be-
cause HyperCard automatically saves any changes
you make as you work. To be able to retrieve ear-
lier versions of stacks, it's a good idea to choose
Save a Copy from the File menu or use the Finder
to make a copy of any stacks you're going to
change. Then use the Open Stack command to
open the backup copy. Apple does provide a
backup of the most commonly used stacks.

8. Get the Paint tools out by dragging down and off
the Tools menu and selling the Tools window down
anywhere on the screen.

In Fig. 2.3 the Paintbrush too! is highlighted to show
it's the selected tool. Checking any tobi in the Tools
window selects the tool.

Hint

HyperCard has "tear-off" windows. That means
you can select Tools in the usual way, or you can
drag the window to another place on the page (tear
it off) and then select. To get rid of the Tools menu
to keep it out of the way, click on the small box in
the top left corner of the menu.

Hint

While you're making design changes to stacks—
whether you're editing their pictures, fields, or but-
tons—keep the Tools window handy by leaving it
out on the desktop. Tear it off and drag it out of
the way, then select a tool. The palette will stay
where you put it.

USING THE PAINT TOOLS TO ADD PICTURES

' i File Edit Go Tooli Point Dptiors Patterns

1987 June

Mon. 1

Tues.2

Wed. 3

Week
23

Thurs,"!

Sat. 6
Sun, 7

FIGURE 2—3 You can use any of the Paint tools to add your own pictures to
cards in the Weekly calendar. Dragging down and off the Tools
menu "tears off" the menu so you can move it around on the
screen.

If you have a large-screen Macintosh, set the Tools
palette out of the way so you can see and work on
the entire card. Of course you could continue to
choose the tools you need from the Tools menu, but
it's more convenient to tear the menu off, set the win-
dow down, and move it around the screen as you
work. That way a single cUck gives you the tool you
need. ^-

9. Experiment with the Paint tools by clicking the
Paintbrush tool.

Notice that Paint, Options, and Patterns ap-
pear on the menu bar when you click on the
Paintbrush.

10. Circle a date on the card as shown in Figure 2.3.

Press the tilde key (or whatever key is at the
top left corner of your keyboard) to undo the

CHAPTER 2 CUSTOMIZING STACKS

circle if you don't like it and start over, or se-
lect Undo from the Edit menu.

When you're using the Paint tools the key at the
top left corner of the keyboard (usually the tilde
key) does what it's always done in MacPaint— it
undoes your last painting action just as the Undo
command does. When you're using any of the
other tools, the tilde key tells HyperCard to back
up through cards you've seen. To back up to other
cards when you're using the Paint tools, hold down
the Command key while you press the tilde key.

More than Undo

With MacPaint you can always undo your last pamt-
ing action, and you can always Revert to the last ver-
sion you saved on a disk. But if you want to undo
several changes, or if you want to undo just one
change but you've clicked somewhere else on the doc-
ument, you're stuck.

With HyperCard it doesn't matter if you forget to
undo an action until you've already made more than
one change to your drawing. The Revert command
gives you an additional level of Undo. Just choose
Revert from the Paint menu. You can recover from
mistakes or simply change your mind as long as you
stay with the Paint tools and don't leave the card
you're working on. HyperCard remembers the way
the card was when you came to it, and choosing Rev-
ert takes the card back to that state. If you make some
changes and want to remember those changes but
condnue to work on the card, choose Keep from the
Paint menu. It remembers the current state as the one

USING THE PAINT TOOLS TO ADD PICTURES

to revert to if you subsequently choose Revert. This
gives you a lot of control over work in progress.

Hint

Whenever you're about to embark on major
changes or do something you might want to back
out of, choose Keep from the Paint menu to save
what you've done so far. Choosing Revert from the
Paint menu goes back to the way the card looked
when you last chose Keep or when you last came
to that card.

Borrowing
Pictures that
Already Exist

If you're the artistic type you can start from scratch
and create your own graphics — with all the power of
the Paint tools right within HyperCard. But if you're
not an artist, you can still have great graphics in your
stacks. HyperCard has a collection of images (the
Clip Art and Art Ideas stacks) to copy and use in your
own stacks. You can also copy any exisnng MacPaint
documents. And you can purchase other collecrions
as well. Chapter 9 gives instructions on how to move
things into and out of HyperCard.

You can copy pictures from existing HyperCard
stacks such as Art Ideas, Card Ideas, Stack Ideas,
Help, or any of the other stacks. You can copy images
and use them as they are, or you can copy them and
then use the Paint tools to add your own touches to
them or just rearrange them on a card.

46 CHAPTER 2 CUSTOMIZING STACKS

Praaice borrowing art from the Art Ideas stack by
placing the picture of a birthday cake on your weekly
calendar as a reminder of an upcoming birthday.

■ 1. Select the Browse tool again.

HyperCard knows what you want to work on
by the tool you've selected. When one of the
Paint tools is selected, it knows you're work-
ing on pictures. And when the Browse tool is
selected, it knows you want to move around
among cards and stacks — clicking buttons or
searching for text or editing text.

2. Choose Message from the Go menu.

The Message box has several functions in
HyperCard. One is to provide a place for you
to specif)- text you want to find using the Find
command. But the Message box is also a place
for you to specify acrions for HyperCard to
perform. For example, you can go to other
stacks without using the Home card or the
Open Stack command by typing "Go" fol-
lowed by the name of the stack you want to
open and then pressing the Return key.

3. Type: Go Art Ideas

4. Press the Return key.

Pressing the Return key tells HyperCard to
' ■ carry out your command — Go to the first card

in the stack named "Art Ideas," in this case.
Figure 2.4 shows the first card in the Art Ideas
stack.

This art stack includes a directory of art top-
ics. You can click a topic to go to a card filled
with related art. Or you can browse through
the Art Ideas cards by clicking the arrows at
the top right of the card.

USING THE PAINT TOOLS TO ADD PICTURES

i File Edit Go Tools Objects

O Indexl

O ^

Cliftl* Bii any u-xi »r piitu
'^^^Z^ Animal!, Vlldliff,F1ih..

i^^^ Eli linens. Org Chirks -

. U |W rati

Filing Gird*, Lil>ril .
1^ Font - Ciiro
© FoM- Mobil*
1^ G«Dgrdphy J Mapt
fflft Holidays, Sfison*

Homr, Houithold AcTiv.

I^j Macintosh^ Appl*.

Mi?c#llan*nu< 1.
l^iHi Misttllarnous 2
5 Mon*y .Crullt^Cilo .
J" p-lLij|c, R*cord», T4pPS
^ Ns'tSj Nultpid, Mtmoj.

FIGURE 2-4 7'/7e /irs( furi/ in the Art Ideas stuck, a treasure box full of snippets
of art for you In copy <.ind use in your stacks.

5. Click the picture of the gift. It says "Holidays, Sea-
sons" next to it.

HyperCard takes you to a card filled with pre-
sents and a birthday cake.

6. Click the selection rectangle in the Tools window.

(First tear the Tools menu off again if you've
put it away.) You can use the selection rectan-
gle or the lasso to capture any image you want
to use, but the selecrion rectangle is still the
easiest way to select an image. And with
HyperCard you can use the selecrion rectangle
to select something and then lasso the selec-
rion so you can easily move it around and into
tight spaces.

7. Select the birthday cake by dragging diagonally
across it.

Figure 2.5 shows the birthday cake selected
with the selecrion rectangle. Be sure to start

CHAPTER 2 CUSTOMIZING STACKS

it File Edil Go Tools Paint Oiitions Pallerlis

FIGURE 2-5 You can use either the selectinii reclniigk- or ihe Lisso lo select J
picture. The selection rectangle is quicker. Jiid the Lisso lets you
move about in ti)^ht spaces. Combine the best of both took hy
selecting with the selection rectangle and then changing to the lasso
hy typing Commaud-S.

dragging well outside of the limits of the birth-
day cake. If the selection isn't large enough
and part of the cake is excluded, just start se-
lecting again. If you accidentally move the se-
lection, choose Undo from the Edit menu.

Hint

Whenever you want to copy a picture in Hyper-
Card, first choose one of the Paint tools from the
Tools window. HyperCard needs to know whether
you want to copy text, a text field, a hutton, an
entire card, or a picture. When any Paint tool is
selected, the Cut and Copy commands in the Edit
menu apply to pictures.

USING THE PAINT TOOLS TO ADD PICTURES

8. Type Command-S (for Select) to lasso the birthday
cake.

The selection rectangle suddenly hugs the
cake. With the selection rectangle you select
the space enclosed by the rectangle, even if
there's no image. But the lasso sclecdon snug-
gles up alongside the exact image, excluding
any white area.

Hmt

hi HyperCard you can change a rectangle selection
into a lassoed selecrion by typing "Command-S."
You can tell HyperCard to remember the Power
Keys, so that it's automatically checked each time
you start HyperCard. Do this by checking the
Power Keys preference on the Preference card — the
last card in the Home stack. Then you don't even
have to press the Command key to change a rec-
tangle selecdon into a lassoed selecdon; just type

It's generally easier to select using the selection rectan-
gle, but lassoing an image lets you move it into a tight
spot. And lassoing also lets you select just the object,
without any area that surrounds it. With all the new
Paint commands available in HyperCard's Paint
menu, you'll often want just the object selected, so
you can choose a subsequent command for it without
affecting any surrounding picture.

9. Try a few commands in the Paint menu or, if you
checked Power Keys on the Preferences card, just type
single characters to transform the selected birthday
cake.

Try Lighten and Darken. Choose Trace Edges
for an interesting effect; flip it or rotate it. The

50 CHAPTER 2 CUSTOMIZING STACKS

Power key for Lighten is "L." For Darken its
"D." Trace Edges is "E."

10. Choose Revert from the Paint menu.

This reverts the selection (or the entire card if
nothing is selected) back to the way it origi-
nally was or the way it was when you last
chose Keep.

Hint

As long as you don't select a tool other than a
Painting tool and you don't leave the current card,
you can choose Revert. This will either revert your
last Painting action (or the current selection if there
is one) or revert the entire card to the way it was
when you came to it last.

11. Use the selection rectangle to reselect the cake and
choose Copy Picture from the Edit menu.

The selected image is copied onto the Clip-
board — not visible but there nevertheless.
You'll see the contents of the Clipboard the
next time you choose Paste.

Hint

It's a good idea to get into the habit of copying
rather than cutting images. That way you'll still
have the original to copy again.

Pasting borrowed art

A general rule with Macintosh is to select some in-
formation and then tell the Macintosh what you
want to do with that information. You just copied a

USING THE PAJNT TOOLS TO ADD PICTURES

picture by selecting it and then choosing Copy. With
HyperCard you can copy not only pictures but text,
buttons, fields, or entire cards. Depending on the tool
you're using when you select, HyperCard copies the
appropriate item. HyperCard remembers what you
last copied and switches you to the appropriate tool,
if necessary, when you choose Paste.

Now paste the birthday cake picture that's on the
Clipboard into the weekly calendar.

1 . Choose the Browse tool.

You've finished Painting, so you need to give
HyperCard a hint about what you want to do
next.

2. Choose Recent from the Go menu.

You see miniatures of the 42 most recent cards
you've seen. Chcking any one of the miniature
pictures takes you to that card.

3. Click the minature of the Weekly Calendar card.

This weekly calendar is set up so that you can
see the week at a glance, or see the larger view
of the current six months by clicking on the
small calendar icon at the top of the weekly
calendar. (Clicking a corresponding small cal-
endar icon at the top of the Yearly calendar
likewise brings you to the Weekly calendar.)

4. Click the Yearly calendar icon near the top of the
calendar to go to a card that represents the current
six months.

This takes you to one of the last two cards in
the Weekly Calendar stack, depending on the
current month, as shown in Figure 2.6. These
cards each show six months of the year. From
■ these two cards you can click on any day to
go back to the Weekly calendar that represents

52 CHAPTER 2 I CUSTOMIZING STACKS

K File Edit Go Tools Pain) Options Patterns

1987

□

Januarv

2 3
i 10

5 6

3
10

Apnl

!•!

15 17

12 13

23 24

19 20

30 31

25 27

February ^

3
10

5
12

6 V
13 M

3 a

2
9

Ma.y

20 21

10 l:

!»

£7 as

15 IB

2a 25
31

March '

6 7

June

13 11

7 S

20 21

14 15

27 23

21 22

2e 29

FIGURE 2-6 T/jp Yearly calendar lets you see the year at a couple of glances.

Each card represents six monlhs of the year. Chcking a date takes
von t<i that dav in the Weekly culendar.

that day. Use the right or left arrow to go to
the other six months of the year.

5. Click the day you want to celebrate.

Let's say your sister's birthday is on Oct. 5.
you would cUck there to tell HyperCard to re-
member that place on the calendar card.

Hmt

Both of these calendars, plus the To Do list, are
actually in the same stack — called Datebook.
Three buttons on the Home card take you to var-
ious parts of the Datebook stack — the To Do but-
ton, the Weekly button, and the Calendar button.

USING THE PAINT TOOLS TO ADD PlCTURliS

i File Edit Go Tools Point Options Pstlernx

1987 October

Moil, 5 ^ .

Tues.6

Wed. 7

«f ^1 □

Week
41

Thui-s.8

Fri.9

Sat. 10
Sun. 11

FIGURE 2—7 A picture is opaque when you first draw it or paste it onto a card.

But you can make any picture transparent so that you can see
through to the hackgrnund picture.

6. Choose Paste Picture from the Edit menu.

HyperCard switches you back to the selection
rectangle tool (because you're pasting a pic-
ture) and pastes the image of the picture you
copied onto the current card as shown in Fig-
ure 2.7. Don't click outside the image of the
cake yet. There's another concept to explore
first.

Opaque or transparent

1, Without chcking outside the selection, move the
picture around on the screen by draggmg from any-
where inside it.

(If you have already clicked somewhere and
the birthday cake is no longer selected, select

CHAPTER 2 CUSTOMIZING STACKS

it again using the selection rectangle.) Notice
how the picture obscures the horizontal lines
beneath it. The hori/.ontal lines are part of the
cards background picture (though the text
that you type onto the lines resides in a text
field). Card pictures in HyperCard can be
either opaque or transparent, either hiding or
letting an underlying picture show through.
Pictures are always opaque when you first
draw them or when you paste them in from
the Clipboard, but as long as they're still se-
lected you can change them to transparent or
back to opaque.

The birthday cake was transparent when you copied
it (though you probably didn't notice it because there
was nothing behind it to show through), but it be-
came opaque while it was on the Clipboard. When
you pasted it mto the calendar, the opaque image ob-
scured the undetlying picture — the horizontal lines.

Hint

For consistency with MacPaint and other pictures
in the Clipboard, pictures in HyperCard are always
opaque in the Clipboard. After you paste the pic-
tures, you can change them back to transparent if
vou want. . .

2. With the pasted picture still selected, choose Trans-
parent from the Paint menu.

If you've checked Power Keys on the Preferences card
on the Home stack (or if you choose Power Keys now
from the Options menu), you can just type a "T" to
do the same thing.

USING THE PAINT TOOLS TO ADO PICTURES

Hint

Checking Power Keys in the Options menu turns
Power Keys on for this session only. HyperCard
remembers the Power Keys setting on the Prefer-
ences card even when you quit HyperCard and
start it again.

3. Move the selection around the screen again by
dragging it.

Now the underlying calendar picture shows
through — lines, spirals, and icons. As long as
a recently pasted picture is still selected, you
can move it around and change it from
opaque to transparent and back again. If you
click anywhere outside the picture and then
you decide to move it or make it transparent,
just selecT; it again.

Card or

Background

Picture?

Every stack has at least one background picture that
cards can share. For example, every Address card has
a picture that looks like a card in a rotary file. But a
card can have an individual picture as well as the
background picture it shares with the other cards in
that stack.

While you've been using the Paint tools to edit pic-
tures, you've been working with card pictures. You
can make changes also to the cards' background pic-
ture to change the way each of the cards that share
that background will look. Background pictures give

CHAPTER 2 CUSTOMIZING STACKS

you several advantages. They save space on the disk
by storing just one picture for many cards, and they
give you the ability to edit every card's picture by ed-
iring just the background.

Hint

Whenever you want to use the same picture for
more than half the cards in a stack, you should put
the picture in the backgtound.

Adding a picture to the background

You just added a picture to one of the Weekly calen-
dar cards, but you could also add a picture to every
card that shares the same background by editing the
stack's background picture.

Hint

The Weekly calendar, the Yearly calendar, and the
To Do list are all part of one stack called "Date-
book." This is an example of using more than one
background within the same stack. The Weekly
calendar has one background; the Yearly calendar
has another; the To Do list has yet another
background.

In this exetcise, you'll learn how to copy a picture of
a moneybag and paste it to the background of each
Weekly calendar card to remind yourself to go to the
bank.

1. Choose the Browse tool.

USING THE PAINT TOOLS TO ADD PICTURES

2. Choose Message from the Go menu.

If "Go Art Ideas" is still in the Message box
from the last time you used it, just press Re-
turn. Otherwise, type it in and press Return.
HyperCard takes you to the first card m the
Art Ideas stack.

Hint

When there's no insertion point in the Message box
or anywhere else, HyperCard replaces any existing
message in the Message box with any text you
type.

3. Click the dollar sign.

It says "Money, Credit, Calc" next to it.
HyperCard shows you a card with images re-
lating to money and banking.

4. Use the selection rectangle to select a money bag.

Just as you did for the birthday cake, tear off
the Tools menu and click on the selection
rectangle.

5. Choose Copy Picture from the Edit menu.

The money picture is copied. Although you
can't see it there, it replaces the picture of the
birthday cake on the Clipboard.

6. Choose the Browse tool.

if you stay in a Paint tool, pressing the Undo key {the
top left key on the keyboard) will undo your last
painting action, if you use the Browse tool, the top
left key will take you back quickly to the last card
you were working on.

CHAPTtR 2 CUSTOMIZING STACKS

Hint

HyperCard maintLTiny as much consistency with
MacPaint as possible {while adding some useful
new features). One important consistency is that
the top left key still "Undoes" painting actions any-
time you're using a Paint tool. You can go back to
another card while you're in a Paint tool by press-
ing the Command key as well as the Undo key.

Or use any of the other ways you know about to get
back to the calendar:

Choose Back from the Go menu repeat-
edly unni you're hLick to the calendar.
• Go Home and then click Weekly.

Choose Open Stack from the File menu
and then open Datcbook and click but-
tons to move around.
Choose Recent from the Go menu and
click the card you want.
Choose Message from the Go menu and
type "Go Datebook."

HyperCard always offers many alternative ways to
get places.

7. Choose Background from the Edit menu.

Any text on the card temporarily disappears,
as does the picture you added to the card. You
see a blank Weekly calendar card. And the
menu bar has a hem-stitched look.

You can add any picture to either single cards one at
a time (as you did with the birthday cake) or every
card that shares the same background. When Back-

USING THE PAINT TOOLS TO ADD PICTURES

* .Edit Co Tools Paint Options' 'Patterns

1987

Moil.

» □

■■□

□

Tues.

□

Wed.

Thurs.

Fri.

Week

Sat.
Sun.

FIGURE 2—8 YoH can atsn paste pictures into a stack's background so that each
card that shares the background wilt share the picture. The
diagonal lines at the top remind you you're workinj^ in the
' ■ background.

ground is checked in the Edit menu, anything you do
to the picture affects every card with that back-
ground. (By the way, a stack can have as many back-
grounds as you need. See Chapter 7.)

Hint

You always know when you're in the Background,
because slanted lines appear in the menu bar.

8. Paste the money bag in by choosing Paste Picture.

Figure 2.8 shows the money pasted into the
Background.

CHAPTER 2 CUSTOMIZING STACKS

9. Choose Transparent to let the original background
picture show through and drag the money to the
place that represents payday.

Drag the moneybag to the day you usually go
to the bank.

10. Return to the card picture by choosing the Back-
ground command (which is now checked) again or
pressing Command-B.

Choosing Background when it's checked "Un-
does" Background and returns you to the card
itself. You can now sec both the Background
and card pictures you added— the birthday
cake on the card and the money in the
Background.

Hint

When you're looking at a card's background, you
see only the background picture. But when you're
looking at the card, you see both the card picture
and any background picture underlying it (unless
you've made part of the card picture opaque).

11. Choose the Browse tool.

If you're still using a Paint tool, clicking on
arrows or icons will leave Paint marks but
won't take you anywhere. Only the Browse
tool lets you click on buttons to move around
in HyperCard.

12. Flip through the cards by cHcking the left or right
arrows.

Notice that although the birthday cake is on
just one card, the money bag appears on every
card in the Weekly calendar stack.

USING THE PAINT TOOLS TO ADD PICTURES

Making the
Card Picture
Opaque

Even though the money picture appears in the Back-
ground, you can hide it on individual cards. You
make an opaque layer on top of the background im-
age you want to hide. For example, if you're not
going to the bank this week, you can "erase" the re-
minder for this week only.

1. Use the selection rectangle to select the moneybag
picture on this week's calendar.

Even though you see and seem to be selecting
the moneybag, that picture actually appears in
the background, and right now you're editmg
the card picture rather than the background
picture. Rather than selecting the picture itself,
you're selecting an area of blank space on the
card picture.

2. Try moving the selection.

Notice that you don't move the moneybag,
which is in the background, but only the
blank space you've selected on the card.

Hint

In HyperCard the "marching ants" that surround
a selection seem to disappear when you drag the
selection. (This is different from MacPaint.) The
marching ants make it easier to see exactly what's
around the image and to move it into just the place
you want it.

62 CHAPTER 1 CUSTOMIZING STACKS

« File Edit Go Tools Paint Options Patterns

19S70ccobei-

Mon.5

Tues.6

Wed. 7

□

Tliurs.S

lFri.9

Sal. 10
Sun. 11

HGURE 2-9 Yuu can cqvlt up areas of the background by making that iirea of
the card opaque. This card's background includes the picture of
money, but because that area is obscured on the card it dnesn't
shotu through.

3. Reselect the area over the money bag picture.

Drag from the top left to the bottom right to
select the area.

4. Choose Opaque from the Paint menu or press "O"
if you have Power keys checked.

Now you see one of the reasons for layers and
for opacity. The selected area becomes
opaque, obscuring the image under it — in this
case, the moneybag in the background picture
is hidden. You can see this in Figure 2.9,
where the moneybag is no longer visible.

Shrinking a picture in the background

When a picture is part of the background, you have
to edit it in only one place to change it on every card.

USING THE PAINT TOOLS TO ADD PICTURES

1. Choose Background again to edit the background
picture.

HyperCard brings you back to the card's
background picture. The money is still there
because you hid it on one card but did not
remove it from the background.

2. Make a small change by selecting the moneybag
and then pressing the Command key while you drag
the selection rectangle inward to shrink it.

If you also hold down the Shift key while you
drag, the selection will keep its original pro-
portions. To enlarge the image, just drag out-
ward while pressing the Command key.

3. Return again to the card picture by choosing the
checked Background command again or pressing
Command-B.

This card still obscures the picture with an
opaque area.

4. Use the Browse tool to move to other cards in the
stack and notice that the picture is now smaller on
every card, even though you changed it in just one
place.

That's because you changed it in the Back-
ground of the stack.

Using the

Temporary

Layer

Besides the background and the card pictures, there
is one more, temporary layer whenever you paste a
picture in. While its selected, you can move and ma-
nipulate it as you wish. To see this layer, paste in an-
other copy of the moneybag on the calendar.

CHAPTER 2 CUSTOMIZING STACKS

1. Choose Paste Picture from the Edit menu or press
Commatid-V.

There's another moneybag. Like other Mac-
intosh applications, HyperCard keeps any pic-
ture (or anything you copy or cut) in the
Clipboard until you switch off the Macintosh
ot until you cut or copy something else. Past-
ing the pictue doesn't remove it from the
CHpboard.

The picture floats above the calendar. Just as
in MacPaint, pictures you paste float around
in a layer that belongs just to them until you
click somewhere else on the card.

2. Make the picture transparent by choosing Trans-
parent from the Paint menu and move the picture
around on the screen.

Now you have another layer to play with. The
existing card picture will show through or re-
main hidden until ynu click to finalize your
choice,

3. Press the Backspace key to get rid of the selected
picture.

Now the second moneybag is gone.

Giving
Yourself
More White
Space

You may decide that the Address cards that come
with HyperCard are too small to keep track of every-
thing you want to keep there. Maybe you'll want to
include people's birthdays on their cards Or when
you get an idea of what to give someone for Christ-

USING THE PAINT TOOLS TO ADD PICTURES

mas, you might want to jot it down. Address cards
are a good place for shirt sizes or a favorite perfume
or wine. When you're searching for text, HyperCard
isn't a bit fussy about where you put text, as long as
it's in a text field — so you can find notes no matter
where you put them.

Hint

Each card in HyperCard is the full screen size of
the Macintosh Plus. Many cards appear to be
smaller because they include a gray background
around their edges or they don't look like "cards"
in the way we're used to thinking of cards. So even
though the Address cards look as if they extend to
just the white area on the screen, the actual card
size is the full Macintosh Plus screen size.

Make an Address card look larger by extending the
white area, as follows:

1. Choose Message from the Go menu. Type "Go Ad-
dress" and press the Return key.

HyperCard takes you to the first card in the
stack named "Address."

2. Choose Background from the Edit menu or press
Command-B.

HyperCard takes you to the card's
background.

3. Click the selection rectangle in the Tools palette
and select the right portion of the Address card as
shown in Figure 2.10.

You don't have to select a large area. You're
just going to extend the card by copying an
edge.

66 CHAPTER 2 CUSTOMIZING STACKS

* Vile Edit 60 Tools Paint Options Patterns

■a

□

.-1

FIGURE 2-10 One side of the Address stack's background picture is selected and
being extended tn the right so that there's More space for
information on the card. . .

Hint

Choosing Grid from the Options menu before you
select avoids gray "seams," messy Unes that show
the edges between the original card and the copied
portion of the card.

4. Hold down the Option key and the Shift key while
you drag the selected area to the right.

Select an Option-Shift drag to do the same
thing along the top of the card. Extend it just
a litde so that the card sits squarely in the cen-
ter of the screen and the angled bracket that
defines the text field is nudged up a bit.

USING THE FIELD TOOL 67

Hint

Holding down the Option key copies the selected
area. Holding down the Shift key ensures that the
extended card picture stays lined up with the
original.

Now you'll have more space to work with on each
card. You can make these artistic adjustments to any
background picture anywhere. You're the boss.

5. Choose the checked Background command from
the Edit menu to return to the card picture.

Now your address cards are a little larger than the
original.

Using the Field Tool

Even though HyperCard lets you intermingle text and
graphics freely, it does need to know what areas of a
card have text in them so that it can search for text
and let you change such characteristics as font, size,
and style. So even though the Address card looks
larger now, the areas where you can add text — the
fields — are still the same size. To be able to add text
to the entire area of your enlarged card, you need to
enlarge the text fields as well as the background pic-
ture. Making the text field larger increases the
amount of text you can have on the card. It also
changes the way the text is positioned — where line
breaks fall, whether the shape is more a horizontal or
a vertical box.

68 CHAPTER 2 CUSTOMIZING STACKS

Enlarging the
Text Field

A text field's size is never frozen. You can use the Field
tool any time to change the size and shape of any
field, whether it's a background field or a card field.

1. Set your User Level to Authoring by going to the
Home stack, pressing the left arrow key, and clicking
Author on the References card. Then use the Go
Back key to return to the Address stack.

The Author User Level makes the Field and
Button tools available. If you click either of
these tools without at least the Authoring User
Level, HyperCard presents a dialog box telling
you that your User Level isn't high enough.

2. Select the Field tool from the Tool palette.

When you're using the Field tool, HyperCard
displays and lets you edit any existing fields in
the stack. The Address stack has three fields —
one for the name and address, one for the
phone number, and one for the date last mod-
ified. You can see these three fields enclosed
with a black line in Figure 2.11.

You use the Field tool (choose it from the
Tools window) whenever you want to add
fields to a stack or make changes to existing
fields. You might want to add fields so that
you can separate information for prinring la-
bels without phone numbers, for example, or
for performing calculations on numbers in a
field.

3. Drag from a comer of the first field upward and
outward toward the corner of the card so that the
field looks like the one in Figure 2.12.

USING THE FIELD TOOL 69

' t File Edit Gd Todl; QbJeEts

FIGURE 2—11 When you use the Field tool all the fields are outlined so you can
drag them to move them nr jdjusl iheir size and shape.

t File Edit Go Tnols Dbjecis

Katie Aichler

MSI ,ai.ddiefisid.RQ3(j _ _

O i:> n i 2/23/97

.iiii-liiirn.l:ll!lill!«nJj|i-.uij!. i I'ililMilU'

FIGURE 2- 12 Vow use the Field tool to drag fields to change their size and shape.

Making this field larger by dragging from a corner lets you use
mure space on the card fur text.

CHAPTER 2 CUSTOMIZING STACKS

Notice that the text in the Field tool follows
along as you move the field so that you can
choose the best position for the field.

4. Adjust the field by dragging from its center to move
it or dragging from a comer to change its size.

Hint

Although this is a background field that exists on
each card in the stack, you don't have to be in the
background to change its shape, size, style, or font.
You need to be in the background only when you
create a background field.

Now you'll have more space to add text to the card.

5. Make the phone number field larger as well, by
dragging its right edge more to the right.

Make it the same width as the field above it.

HyperCard is a natural gathering place for informa-
tion. Because it's so freeform, you don't have to get
organized in order to become organized. You don't
have to limit the Address stack to just names and
addresses.

One of the biggest advantages of HyperCard over
"traditional" databases is its freeform nature. With
most databases you have to have a category for every
piece of information you want to organize. The in-
formation in each category has to be the "right" for-
mat and the "right" number of characters. But
HyperCard doesn't have such rigid rules. All you
need is some information and a field to put it into.

Any miscellaneous information you might otherwise
put on paper can go right on to an address card. For

USING THE FIELD TOOL 71

instance, if a friend is coming to visit, and calls you
with the flight numbers and times, you might jot
them down temporarily on the Address card. You
might also use Address cards to record anniversaries
and birthdays.

6. Use the Browse tool and choose Find from the Go
menu.

You don't really need the Browse tool to use
the Find command, but you're finished with
editing fields for now, so leave the Field tool
behind. Find a friend's card by typing their
name and pressing the Return key. You'll see
that the card is larger now, with increased text
field sizes.

Adding Text
to the Field

Here is how to use the Browse tool to add text to a
field. You'll make a note to yourself of your friend's
favorite flower right on the address card.

Some fields are "locked" so that they can't be edited.
For example, most of the text in the Help stacks is
locked. You can unlock a field by double-clicking it
using the Field tool and unchecking Lock Text.

1. Click in the first field — the one that contains your
friend's name and address.

Wlien you click in a field's white space,
HyperCard puts the insertion point at the
nearest left margin to where you click, adding
Return characters as necessary.

2. Type: yellow roses.

Now you'll remember your friend's favorite
flower whenever you see the card.

CHAPTER 2 CUSTOMIZING STACKS

Make entries in your Address stack for names or
phone numbers you'd otherwise forget. Create a
card that says "Flowers," for example, and list the
florists in your mom's home town. Now you can
send her flowers without remembering the florist's
name. Or make a card with "Windows" on it and
list the window-cleaning service someone recom-
mended. (If windows means software to you in-
stead of the kind you have to clean, put Dan
Ingalls phone number there. He invented the win-
dows environment.)

Customizing
the Way the
Text Looks

Text in a text field can be any font, size, or style avail-
able. You can change the text in a field to any font
you have installed in the System file of the startup
disk you're currently using. (Your Macintosh owner's
guide or Utiliries Guide— if you have a newer Mac-
intosh — explains how to use the Font/DA mover to
move fonts into and out of the System file.) All text
within a field shares the same font, size, and style.

Hint

Create different styles of text by creating separate
fields for the text you want to look different. For
example, you might want headings to be boldface
type and the rest of the text to be plain. Creating a
new field for the heading lets you display it in a
different style from the body of text.

USING THE FIELD TOOL 73

<t File Edit Go Tools Objocts

□ Gold

□ Italic

□ Underline

□ Outline

□ Shadoiu

□ Condense

□ EKiend

Flign

®Left ^
O Center
O Right

Hinens
nuont Gorde
B Duont Garde Dei
Boakmon
Chicago
Courier
Garamond

HeluelicB
Monaco

Neiu Century SchI
Neui Vork

3A|o|gE

FIGURE 2 — 13 T/jc text style diaing hnx shinus the fonts installed in the System
file on the current startup disk. All text in a field shares the same
font choices. You can have multiple fonts in a stack by creating
stparartt fields for each text style you want to use.

You can also create text using the Paint text tool. You
can't search for text you created with the Paint text
tool, hut you can rotate it, flip it, and manipulate it
the way you manipulate any other Paint image. You'll
learn how in Chapter 4.

1. Use the Field tool to click one of the fields and
choose Text Style from the Edit menu.

It doesn't matter what card you're on. Each
card shares the same background fields.

When you choose the Text Style command us-
ing the Field tool, the command affects only
the currently selected field.

Figure 2T3 shows the dialog box that appears.

74 CHAPTER 2 I CUSTOMIZING STACKS

2. Choose any available font, size, and style by click-
ing your choices.

Change the vertical spacing between hnes by
double-dicking in the Line Height box and
typing new numbers. See a sample of the
choices you make in the bottom right corner
of the dialog box.

3. Click OK to confirm your choice.

Hitit

Use Paint text to embed bold words or change text
styles when you don't want to create a new field
for the new text style. Do this only when you won't
need to do much editing of the text later — for text
you're using as a display, for example.

4. Select another field with the Field tool and then
choose Text Style from the Edit menu.

Now you can choose different styles and fonts
for this field.

Using the Button Tool

Buttons are the heart of HyperCard. They provide the
action that allows you to move to other cards, to au-
tomatically carry out commands in menus, and to
provide visual and sound effects. They also allow
HyperCard programmers to write new actions,
thereby extending HyperCard's power. But you don't
have to be a programmer to love the power chat but-
tons give you.

USING THE BUTTON TOOL 75

Navigating
with Buttons

You encountered burtons the first time you used
HyperCard, clicking your way through the Introduc-
tion to HyperCard, exploring some of the stacks on
the Home card, or flipping through names in the Ad-
dress cards or through the calendar. Buttons can look
like the buttons you're used to in Macintosh appli-
cations — OK or Cancel, for example—or they can
look like arrows, dog-eared pages, or the stacks they
represent (on the Home card, for example}. In fact,
buttons can look like anything you want them to, be-
cause you can use the Paint tools to draw pictures
that accompany the buttons you create.

There are several ways to see whether a button be-
longs to a single card or the card's background.
You can use the Button tool to select a button and
choose Button Info from the Objects menu to see
whether it's a card or background button. If it's a
background button, you'll see the words "Back-
ground button number" followed by the button
number. Or you could choose Background from
the Edit menu. All the card buttons will disappear.
If you can still see a button, you'll know it's a back-
ground button. A third way to tell if a button is in
the background is to hold down the Command and
Option keys. Background buttons have a double
border.

CHAPTER 2 CUSTOMIZING STACKS

HGIIRE 2-14 An Mldresi canl's hiitKiiis hihr yon to the I'lcvums iit next card or
lo ibi' card you uvrc al n-bi-ii y<iii came to tin' addrcsi stack. I hay
also lake you Home, to the weekly or yearly cikndar. to a To Do
list, flip tlmmi^b the stack, sort, or dial a phone.

You can be content for quite a while using the but-
tons that are provided for you in existing HyperCard
stacks, but before too long you'll want some buttons
to call your own.

You're already fiimiliar with the buttons on the Ad-
dress stack. Figure 2.14 shows a card in the Address
stack. This stack has an array of background buttons
along the left side of the card, as well as several ar-
rows and a telephone button.

The forward and backward arrows always take you
to the next or previous card; likewise, each of the
other buttons that appear on the cards always pro-
vides a consistent action. The Return arrow goes
back to the card you were looking at when you came
to the Address stack.

USING THE BUTTON TOOL

Like pictures and fields, buttons can be on the card
itself or in the card s background, where the button is
shared among all the cards that use that background.
All of the existing buttons in the Address stack are
background buttons. They appear automadcally on
each new card in the stack.

Creating a
New Button

Creadng a button is as easy as choosing the Button
tool and then choosing New Button or Command-
dragging in the place you want the button to be.

In the next two lessons you'l! create new buttons and
then link a button to a specific card.

The Objects menu appears when you have your User
Level set to Authoring or above. Here's how to create
a new button that will take you to another card in
the Address stack — the card of a business contact that
a friend referred you to.

1. Use the Find command to go to Katie Aichler's
card and then choose New Button from the Objects
menu.

HyperCard automadcally creates a new but-
ton for you and plops it into the middle of the
screen. It also switches you to the Button tool
if youVe not already using it.

2. Use the Button tool to drag the button to the bot-
tom left comer of the white area of the card.

Be sure to keep the button in the white area
of the card. If you put it in the same area as
the background buttons, you might be con-
fused later.

78 CHAPTER 2 I CUSTOMIZING STACKS

t rile Edil Go Tools Objecls

Bullon Name:

Neui Bulton

Card bullon number: I
Card buHon ID: 1
^ ShQiii name
□ HutQ hllile .

Icon...

f l.iiikliv.. )
{ Script... 1

Stijie:

O transparent
O opaque
O rectangle
O shadouj
® round reel
O check boH
O radio bullon

Cancel

FIGURE 2- IS The button iliatoa hux is where you start discovering HyperCard's
power. \ou can choose a button style, name the button, choose an
icon to represent it, and link the bullon to another card. The Script
button is dimmed unless you've changed your user level to
Scripting on the Preferences card in the Home Stack.

There are i\ couple o( ways to find information about
a button — its name, ID, etc. You can select the button
and choose Button Info from the Objects menu, or
you can just double-cHck the button using the Button
tool. ^

3. Choose Burton Info from the Objects menu.

Because the button you just created is already se-
lected, you don't have to select it first. You do need
to have a button selected to choose this command. If
there's no selected button, the command is dimmed,
as the Field Info command is currently.

The dialog box shown in Figure 2.15 appears with a
place for the button name, its number within its

USING THE BUTTON TOOL

background or card (button numbers are assigned by
order of creation — lower numbers appear toward the
back, and buttons you add are placed closer and have
a higher number); its ID (a unique, permanent name
HyperCard assigns when you create the button); its
Style (transparent, opaque, rectangle, shadow, round
rect, check box, or radio button); and buttons that
say 'icon...,"'^Unk to," "Script," OK, and Cancel. Be-
cause you created this button using the New Button
command, its name is preset to "New Button." But-
tons you create by Command-dragging aren't named.

The "Show name" check box is already checked, and
the "round rect" button style is checked. Show name
will display the button's name in the button when you
put the dialog box away; round rect is the shape of
the button you're used to seeing on the Macintosh.

You can produce a wide range of button looks by
choosing various combinations of button styles,
icons, and whether or not the button's name is visible.
You can change the button's look anytime, so exper-
iment, now or later, with this new button.

4. Click OK to see how the button looks and then
double-click the button using the Button tool to see
the dialog box again.

5. Type: Contact to rename the "New Button"
"Contact."

Hint

You don't have to follow any rules about using up-
percase and lowercase — just type button names the
way you want them to look on the screen and
when you print them.

CHAPTER 2 customizing; STACKS

* File Edit Go Tooli Objects

flGURE 2-16 The icon dialog box displays the available icons that can represent
buttons in your stacks.

6. Click OK to see how the button looks.

The button displays its name — Contact— in
the round rect style.

Using a Button Icon

Besides the button styles listed in the dialog box, a
button can also be represented by an icon — like the
icons you see in the Finder. You can use any icon
resources that are available in the current stack or in
HyperCard itself. ^

1. Use the button tool to double-click your new but-
ton to see its dialog box again.

Remember not to use the Browse tool when
you want to double-click to see the dialog
box.

USING A BUTTON ICON 81

2. Click Icon to see the available icons.

Figure 2.16 shows some of the icons that are avail-
able. Use the scroll bar to scroll through the directory
of icons.

3. Click the icon you want to use for the button that
goes to the contact's card. Click OK to close the icon
dialog box.

You might have to adjust the button's size by drag-
ging one of its corners or move it by dragging from
its center.

The icon dialog box shows you the icon resources
in the current stack, the Home card, the current
System file, and in HyperCard itself. You don't see
icons that exist only in another stack. But you can
use those icons as well by going to the stack that
contains the one you want and then copying and
pasting a button that uses the icon.

See Appendix 3, "Moving Resources," for informa-
tion on how to move icon resources among stacks.

Linking the
Button to
Another Card

Buttons can do an endless array of actions, but by far
the most common action for a button is to link you
to another card. So HyperCard includes a LinkTo
button that automatically takes you from the card
you're looking at to another card in the same stack

82 CHAPTWMCUSTON^^

scnpt that IS performed whenever you click the but
ton using the Browse tool.

You've created the button on your fnend's address
crrd Now it's time to l,nk that card to the business
contact your friend told you about.

1. Double-click the button to sec its dialog box again.

2. Click LinkTo.

This tells HyperCard that you want the se^
lected button to take you to a specific card
Xnever you click it using the Browse tool.
Now tell HyperCard where that card is.

Up pops the Destination window, with two
chofces^This Card and This Stack^^nd a
Cancel button, as shown in Figure 2.17 This
Card and This Stack are the two most com
Ln places to link a button to so HyperCard
makes it easy for you by offering them as
choices.

Nonce that even though youTe ^"^^^^^^^'^^

Hottte and cUck buttons, and you can use the ttlde
key to back up.

3 Use the Browse tool to go to the card of the person
your friend recommended to you.

USING A BUTTON ICON

t File Eilil Go Tonls Objects

[KdtTol Aichler

Go to destination, llien aim link at:

Tliis Card This SlBck

Cancel

555-4644

FIGURE 2-17 The LiiikTo Destination windiiw comes »/? when yiiu click the

LiiikTo biitUiii. HyperCard switches yim to thf Browse tool so that
. ; you can chouse a destination for the button. When yini complete

the link, HyperCard puts you back into the button tool so thai you
can make other modifications to the button.

For this exercise, go to any card in the address
stack. You could also go to a new card that
you add by choosing New Card from the Edit
Menu. This new button will take you there
instantly from your friends card— tying the
two cards together.

4. Click This Card on the Destination window.

YouVe just told HyperCard which card to link
the button to.

5. HyperCard switches you back to the Button tool
and takes you back to the original card.

Use the Browse tool to try out the new button.

Now whenever you see the name on the first card,
you'll always see a burton that says "Contact." If you

CHAPTER 2 CUSTOMIZING S I ACKS

want to know who that contact is and how to get
hold of that person, you can click the Contact button
to go straight to that card.

Summary

In this chapter you've seen how to customize existing
stacks — the Weekly Calendar stack and the Address
stack — to your own needs. YouVe used the Paint
tools to add and modify pictures on a card and in a
background. You've modified a text field and
changed the way the text looks. And you've used the
Button tool to find out information about a button,
to create a new button, and to link the button to an-
other card.

Maybe you've seen just enough to wonder about the
other possibilities. In the next chapter, you'll see how
you can use the stack "seedlings" that HyperCard
provides to start building some stacks of your own.

(

Part Two:

Becoming a
HyperCard Author

Chapter 3

Building Stacks

"/ can't remember
what you put at the
beginning of a
program. I always
copy it from
someti'here else."
Bill Atkinson

By now you know how to personalize any of the existing HyperCard
stacks by adding your own text and pictures and by adding and mod-
ifying text fields and buttons. But while youVe exploring every nook
and cranny of existing stacks, you'll probably think of an idea for a

CHAPTER 3 BUILDING STACKS

Stack that doesn't yet exist. And you might want to
build that stack yourself.

Borrowing

With most applications you create documents from
scratch. With a word processor you have to supply
the words. With a graphics application you draw the
shapes vou need using various painting tools. With a
spreadsheet, you emer the numbers. Sometimes you
can use templates to get started in a spreadsheet or
you can paste in ready-made art to add a professional
touch to documents, but for the most part you usu-
ally build a document yourself from the ground up.

With HyperCard, your Macintosh already has some
information built in. HyperCard supplies not only the
form but some of the content as well. Each of the
stacks supplied with HyperCard contains informa-
tion as well as the stack structure. The datebooks
have real calendars, the Slide Show is full of beautiful
images, and the Help system tells you about
HyperCard and HyperTalk.

Built-in information is a new concept with persona'
computers. But the extraordinary thing about this
built-in information is that it is designed to be
changed by you. It's meant to be pilfered and modfr
tied to tit in with what you want the stacks to do.
The most obvious examples of this are the Address
cards and the Datebook. But there is nothing in
HyperCard that can't be altered.

MAKING INFORMATION YOUR OWN 89

Collecting

While I was working on HyperCard's Help system, I
realized part way through that 1 wasn't keeping my
usual supplies oi "raw materials" (art and text) hid-
den away in various applications and in the Scrap-
book. This was because I could put something — a
picture, text, or even a button — anywhere in
HyperCard and retrieve it again later to copy or move
somewhere else. HyperCard is a living, mutable li-
brary of resources.

Stack Ideas, Card Ideas, and Art Ideas are special
"collection" stacks of backgrounds, cards, and snip-
pets of art meant to be copied and built into new,
complete stacks. But you're not limited to just these
stacks for finding your raw material. You can copy
pictures, text, fields, buttons, or entire cards from
anywhere in the existing HyperCard stacks. This is
an application that invites you to find something you
like, copy it, and then modify it to do exacriy what
you want it to do.

Making Information
Your Own

The real power of HyperCard won't emerge until you
make cards and stacks your own by adding your own
informadon to them. This chapter shows you how to
borrow pictures, fields, and buttons that already exist
to put together a stack of your own. You'll start with
a copy of a card in the Stack Ideas stack and then
modify it to keep track of personal information.

CHAPTER 3 BUILDING S l ACKS

You'll modify Helds, use Paint text, and add cards and
buttons. You'll see the relationship between card pic-
tures and the background pictures. Yoirll also see
how to create a new calendar from one of the other
stack seedlings.

Starting a New Stack

Whenever you create a new stack, HyperCard gives
you the choice of starting the new stack from scratch
or using any existing stack as a model for the new
stack. If you use an existing stack as the template, the
new stack has the same background picture, the same
background buttons, and the same background Helds
as the card its modeled on. All that's missing is the
text and any pictures, buttons, or fields you want to
add to individual cards.

A Copy or a Shell

When you duplicate documents of any kind in the
Finder, you get an exact copy of the original docu-
ment. You can duplicate HyperCard stacks in the
same way to produce an idenncal copy of what you
started out with. (You can also copy a stack without
quitting HyperCard by using the Save a Copy cbm-
mand in the File menu.) But there's another way to
copy exisdng stacks in HyperCard. Choosing New
Stack from the File menu starts you off with a copy
of the stack youVe looking at when you choose the
command. Specifically, the new stack is a copy of the

A COPY OR A SHELL

current background. The new stack includes every-
thing in the original except text in fields and card-
specific fields, buttons, and pictures.

Hint

A stack can have many backgrounds, as we saw
with the Datebook stack. Cards in one background
don't necessarily have to be together in one place.
A card inherits a background when it is created —
it gets whatever background belongs to the card
you're at when you create the new card.

Hint

Use the Finder or the Save a Copy command to
duplicate a stack if you want the new stack to
come complete with text and card-specific pictures,
fields, and buttons; use the New Stack command
if you just want to copy the background structure
of an existing stack.

The first step in creating a new stack is to decide what
you want the stack to do and to look like, and then
see if there's already a stack that comes close. Don't
worry if the stack you're copying doesn't exactly
match what you have in mind. HyperCard tries to
save you some work by offering existing stacks as
templates to use for the new stack; however, you can
later modify anything — -the picture, the fields, or the
buttons.

92 CHAPTER 3 BUILDING STACKS

Starting with a Stack
Idea

You could start with any working stack that already
does something similar to what you want the new
stack to do. But HyperCard also includes multiple-
background stacks that are meant to be copied and
fleshed out by you. The Stack Ideas stack on the
Home card is a collection of stack "seedlings" that
you can use to build new stacks. Kach seedling con-
sists of one card with a background — including a
background picture, background fields, and back-
ground buttons. Each card in this stack has a separate
background, which can either form the basis for a
whole new stack or be an additional background in
an existing stack. .

Building a
Personal
Information
Base

You'll use the Address stack to keep track of friends
or clients, and you'll use appointment books to keep
track of your time. What about all of those other de-
tails of life that can ptevcnt you from being
organized?

You can build a stack that tells you where your per-
sonal documents are: bank accounts, insurance poli-
cies, credit cards. Of course, you'll keep the actual
policies and account books somewhere else — at the
bottom of a box in the garage, perhaps? HyperCard
will just organize the information so that you can get
to the real thing more easily.

BUILDING A PERSONAL INFORMATION BASE

' m File Edit Go Tool? Ohjecis

FIGURE 3-1 Stack Ideas is full of slack "seedlings" you cau use to start new

stacks. Each card in the Stack Ideas stack has its own bjckgriiund.
Yi)u plant the seedling by starlinfi a new stack or copying the card
to another stack.

Copying a stack seedling

To learn how to use one of the cards in the Stack
Ideas stack as a seedhng for your new stack, try cre-
ating a personal finances stack. Here's how.

1. Go Home and click the Stack Ideas icon.

You'll see an index of the cards and back-
grounds included in this stack. At the top of
the first index card arc buttons that go to
Home and to Help for using this stack. At the
bottom right is a hand that takes you to other
cards in the index.

2. Click the hand that points to the right to go to the
second card of the index as shown in Figure 3.1, and
then click the miniature of the Lateral Files 2 card.

CHAPTER 3 BUILDING STACKS

FIGURE 3-2 The file fnhier seedlings background bus a l>kUire. huttom. a>id

text fields. Wben you create a new stuck from this secdtbig. you ge!
the picture and the text fieids im the folder's tabs, hut you add your

own custom text.

The background picture on this card looks
like a set of lateral tiles. Each tab represents a
subject you might want to keep a file for—
Finances, Auto, Medical, and Household. You
can see this card in Figure 3.2.

Making a new stack while you're viewing this
card will create a new stack with the same
background as this card.

Creating the neiv stack

Whenever you choose New Stack, you have the
choice of starting the new stack from the one you're
looking at when you choose the command. It's the
easiest way to get going on a new stack. Here's how
you create a new stack.

BUILDING A PERSONAL INHORMATION BASE

FIGURE 3-3 You use the stuudctrd filt^ diulog box to rmi/ie tew slacks the si^ijic
may you name new documents in other Macintosh apphcatiims.
You use the "Look for Stacks In" card in the Home stuck to tell
HyperCard where the stacks are.

1. Choose New Slack from the File menu.

You see the familiar standard file dialog box,
with a couple of differences. (See Figure 3.3.)
At the bottom of the dialog box is a checkbox
(which is preset to checked) for whether to
copy the current background or not. If this
checkbox isn't checked, you'll start with a
blank new background. Leave it checked to
start off your new stack with the lateral files
background.

2. Name the new stack "Finances" and click the New
button.

When the dialog box disappears, you see your
new stack — with one card in it and the back-
ground this card uses. Try the forward and

CHAPTER 3 BUILDING STACKS

backwards buttons to see that there's just one
card. There arc no labels on the "tabs" in your
new stack. Although the fields in the back-
ground are copied to the new stack, no card-
specific text comes along with the fields. You
supply the text for the cards in the new stack.

3. Move the Browse tool pointer into the first tab.
When the pointer becomes an I-beam, click to get an
insertion point. Type: Bank.

You can also press the Tab key to move to and
select the first field.

4. Press the Tab key to select the next field. Type: Car.

Hint

Pressing the Tab key lets you type in the next field
without having to use the mouse to click in it. It's
a shortcut for people who don't want to take their
hands off the keyboard while they're typing mfor-
mation into the Macintosh.

5. Press the Tab key and type: Credit Cards.

Notice that each time you press the Tab key,
the insertion point appears in the center of the
Tab. One of the properties you can set for a
field is that text appear centered in the field
rather than starting at the left edge. The fields
on these tabs are centered.

6. Press the Tab key and type: IRAs.

Of course, you can type any categories that
match the kinds of records you keep. You can
add more subjects later; use these to get
started.

BUILDING A PERSONAL INFORMATION BASE

Now you'll add another field to contain information
about each of the subjects.

Adding a
New Text
Field

You can add a new text field whenever you want to
by choosing New Field from the Objeas menu or by
choosing the Field tool and Command-dragging on
the card or background where you want to add the
field. Here is the procedure.

1. Choose the Field tool from the Tools menu.

When you're using the Field tool, all of the
exisring fields are outlined. This stack has
fields for each of the four folder tabs.

2. Choose Background from the Edit menu to work
in the stack's background.

Now you can create a text field in the back-
ground that will be shared by each card in the
stack.

3. Command-drag diagonally to create a field that
covers most of the card.

Drag the field from its center to move it; drag
from an edge to make it larger or smaller. Aim
for a field that looks like the one in Figure 3.4.

Setting

Properties for
a Text Field

Every field has text properties such as the font, size,
and style of the text. Follow these steps to set your

CHAPTER 3 BUILDING STACKS

FIGURE 3-4

Ynu add new text fields hv dragging with the Field tool whde
h,ddmg down Ibi- Command key. You cafi also cho.ise New Field
from the Ob/ects menu to create a new field even if you aren t ,
using the Field tool.

new field's properties. You can set field properties
whenever the field is selected using the Field tool, or
whenever there's a selection such as an insertion point
within the text in the field.

1. Click anywhere in the large field to select the field.

2. Choose Text Style from the Edit menu to set a font
and style for the field.

Make sure you're using the Field tool to select
the field. The choices you make next will af-
fect all of the text in this field.

The Text Style command is dimmed unless
there's a selected field or a text selection.

BUILDING A PERSONAL INFORMATION BASE

Mint You can change a field's style when the field is se-

lected using the Field tool or when its text is se-
lected using the Browse tool.

HyperCard presents a Text dialog box where you can
make choices for the entire field.

Hint Although all text in a field shares the same font and

style choices, you can add new text styles by cre-
ating a new field wherever you want a different
style. Use one field for titles and another for the
main body of text, for example.

3. Click to select a style (with nothing checked the
style is plain), an alignment (left is preset), a font, and
a size. Click OK to confirni the setting.

Hint Double-clicking either the font or size choice also

confirms text style changes and puts the text dialog
box away.

You don't have to be in the background to make
changes to the field. To make any change to a back-
ground picture you need to be in the background. But
you can change the size or shape of background but-
tons or fields or set other properties for them without
first choosing Background from the Edit menu. You
do need to be in the background to create a back-
ground button or field.

100

CHAPTER 3 I BUILDING STACKS

Hint

Choose Background from the Edit menu to make
any changes to the background picture, but modity
background Helds and buttons from either the card
or the background.

4 Switch to the Browse tool to click in the large field
and then type the information about your banks: the
names, your various accounts in each, their telephone
numbers, their working hours, their phone numbers
and addresses, the name of the helpful teller, etc.

Figure 3.5 shows what a sample card looks
like The structure and text style of a back-
ground field is in the background and is
shared by every card that uses that back-
ground. But the text itself belongs to each m-
dividua! card that shares the background.

Adding Cards
to the Stack

So far, there's just this one card in the new Finances
stack The tabs for your car and IRA mformation do
not have cards yet. The arrows along the bottom of
the card are preset to take you to the next card m the
stack After you add some new cards to represent the
other suh,ects on the tabs, clicking these arrows will
take vou to the next or the previous card m the stack.

BUILDING A PERSONAL INFORMATION BASE

101

* File Edit Go Tools Obj ects

Bank ^ Car

Connie's checking First Minneapolis 5559-77-632
Cordon's checking National Security 754-76-555
Joint Savings First Minneapolis 77539

Sate deposit box Town Savings

635075

First Minneapolis open Saturadys and Friday evenings only
National Security has 24-hour information hne 555-7534
Mary Reagan at Town Savings very helplul Phone 555-i653

Safe deposit key is in top lelt desk drawer

FIGURE 3-5

I'itliiig in the text. The text you type into a field belongs to a
specific card, even though the field is a backgrmtnd field that is
shared by every card that uses that hackgruiind.

Now that your first card, Bank, is complete, add a
second card to your new stack. The second card will
contain information about your car.

1. Choose New Card from the Edit menu or type
Command-N.

The new card is added after the one you were
looking at when you chose the command, and
HyperCard takes you to the new card.

The text on the tabs disappears because it was
specific to the first card, the one you typed it
on. There are a couple of ways to include it
on all cards. You could copy and paste text
from each tab on each new card you add to
the stack, or you could transform each tab

102 CHAPTER 3 1 BUILDING STACKS

into Paint text and include it in the b;ick-
gmund picture. Each way has its advantages.
If you use "real" text in a Held, you can search
it, 'but vou'll have to add it each time you add
a card to the stack. If you use Paint text you
can add it just once to the background, but
you won't be able to say "Find IRAs" to go to
the IRAs card, hi this exercise, you will paste
it in as Paint text.

Hint

One wav to put the correct text on each card in a
stack is 'to cut and paste among the cards. But if
you have many cards that can be tedious. You can
also use Paint text in the background so that the
text is shared by each card that uses the
background.

2. Click the left arrow near the bottom of the card to
go to the previous card.

You added a new card in the previous step, so
clicking the arrow will return you to the Bank
card.

3. Select the text in the first field— "Bank"— by drag-
ging across it.

4. Choose Cut Text from the Edit menu.

The text is removed and placed on the Clip-
board. With HyperCard the object you last
placed on the clipboard is the object you sub-
sequently paste. If it's text, then you paste
text; if it's a picture, you paste a picture. Like-
wise with fields and buttons.

BUILDING A PERSONAL INFORMATION BASE

103

When you have text in the Clipboard you can
either paste it as text (by choosing Paste Text
from the Edit menu) or you can choose any
Paint tool before you choose Paste Text. This
will paste the text in as Paint text rather than
the regular text that goes in fields.

5. Choose Background from the Edit menu.

This will let you paste the word "Bank" in the
background so that it will appear on each card
in the stack.

6. Select any Paint tool to let HyperCard know you
want to paste Paint text rather than real text.

7. Choose Paste Text from the Edit menu.

The text is pasted into the center of the screen.

Now the text is like any other picture. You
can move it around.

Hint

Normally pictures are pasted into the same relative
spot they're cut or copied from. But when you
paste text in as Paint text, HyperCard pastes it into
the center of the screen.

8. Drag the Paint text to the first folder tab. Position
the Paint text on the tab.

9. Do the same for the other three tabs.

Choose the checked Edit Background com-
mand to go to the card; use the Browse tool
to select the text on one of the tabs; choose
Cut Text from the Edit menu; choose Back-
ground from the Edit menu; select a Paint

104 CHAPTER 3 BUILDING STACKS

tool; choose Paste Text; drag the Paint text to
one of the tabs.

Deleting the
Fields You
Don't Need

Now that you've made the text into Paint text, you
no longer need the fields that held the regular text.
You don't need to be in the Background to delete
Background fields. All you need is the Field tool.

1. Click the Field tool. Select each tab's field in turn
and press the Backspace key.

You could also press the Clear key if you have
one or choose Cut or Clear Field from the Edit
menu.

2. CHck Delete when HyperCard asks for con-
firmation.

This dialog box is a safeguard against acciden-
tally deleting a field. Such a field might con-
tain a huge amount of information that's
unrecoverable once deleted.

Adding More
Cards

Use the New Card command to type information
about your car on the second card. You might include
the dealer's name, the name, address, and phone
number of the place you take it for repairs, its last
tuneup date, when the registration is due, when you
last paid the insurance, the color code and key num-

BUILDING A PERSONAL INFORMATION BASE

bers so that you can match paint or get new keys with
just a phone call.

Add two more cards for your credit cards and IRAs.
Now you have four cards total. Fill in a card with
your credit card information— where you have ac-
counts and the account numbers. Lasdy, fill in a card
with a list of IRAs: include the year and where the
account is.

Move among the cards using the left and right arrows
near the bottom of the cards. Norice that when you're
at the last card in the stack — the IRAs card — -pressing
the right arrow takes you back to the first card. And
likewise the left arrow on the first card rakes you to
the last card. The cards in HyperCard stacks are ar-
ranged in a circle.

You could get around in the new stack by just using
the arrows at the bottom of the cards or using the Go
menu to go to the First, Next, Previous, or Last card
in the stack. But you could also add buttons that link
you to specific cards from any other card in the stack.
Each card will have these buttons in the background,
so you can move to any one card from any other card
in the stack. Hete's how.

1. Choose Background from the Edit menu.

HyperCard takes you to the background
shared by all the cards in the Finances stack.

Adding a

Background
Button that's
Linked to a

106 CHAPTER 3 BUILDING STACKS

i niP Edit Go Tiiol^ Obierls

Car

Credit Cards

Bank ~|

Connie's checking First Minneapolis ^&^'i'77-bi2

Gordon's thecKing National Security TS'S'Tft-SSS

Joint Savings First Mmneapolts 77&i'i

IRAs

Sale deposit box Town Savings

635075

First Minneapolis open Saturadys and Friday evenings only
Nalional Security has 24-tiour infortnaUon line SSS-VSJ-i
Mary Reagan at Town Savings very helplul Phone 555-5653

Sate deposit key is in tap lelt desk drawer.

FIGURE 3-6

i hiding iliM'ii the Opthm kvy u'hik- you drag a butUm makes a
cnpy of it. it'si '^s OptUm-dm^ginv, picture m Mad'aint aipia it.
The copied hiitlnn comes complete with cmy script the original
had.

2. Click the Button tool and hold down the Com-
mand key while you drag diagonally to create a new
button on the "Bank" tab.

3. Double-click the button. When the dialog box ap-
pears, click LinkTo.

4. Go to the "Bank" card if you're not there already
and then click This Card.

Now this background button is linked to this
specific card. Whenever you click this butron
using the Browse tool, no matter which card
youVe at in the stack, you'll go to the Bank
card.

5. Hold down the Option and the Shift key while you
drag the button to the right, placing the copy of the
button on the "Car" tab as shown in Figure 3.6.

BUILDING A PERSONAL INFORMATION BASE

107

The Option key makes a copy; the Shift key
keeps it lined np with the original. The copv
is identical to the original button, including
being linked to the "Bank" card. Even though
you aren't in the Background, it's a back-
ground button because you option-copied a
background button. But you can re-aim the
copy using LinkTo.

6. Double-click the copy and then click LinkTo.

7. Go to the card that has your car information on it.

8. Click This Card in the Destination dialog box.

You don't have to be at the destination card
before you click LinkTo. You can use the
Browse tool to move around after the Desti-
nation palette comes up.

9. Do the same for the other two cards: go to the
card, Option-Shift drag a copy of one of the other
buttons, double-click it, click LinkTo, and click This
card.

Using card pictures to differentiate cards

You can use pictures to differentiate cards. Here's one
example of how to do this:

1. Go to the first card in the stack by choosing First
from the Go menu or pressing Command-1.

This card's picture doesn't need to change be-
cause the Background picture for the stack
shows the first tab frontmost.

2. Go to the next card — the "Car" card.

Now try your hand at using the Paint tools to make
the "Car" tab look like it's frontmost in the stack.

1. Use the line tool to extend the horizontal line
across the "Bank" tab.

108 CHAPTER 3 BUILDING STACKS

Hmt

Hold down the Shift key while you draw with the
line tool to draw a straight line.

2. Click the pencil tool and choose FatBits from the
Options menu to do the detail work.

The pencil is the best tool for FatBits because

you can click or drag individual dots on or off.

Hold down the Shift key to draw a straight

line.

Hint

Command-click at an exact spot with the pencil to
go^into FatBits at that very spot or to leave FatBits.

3. Return to the normal view by clicking the small
window, choosing the checked FatBits command, or
Command-clicking with the pencil.

Now you see how your changes really look.

4. Hold down the Command key while you use the
eraser to erase the line under the "Car" tab as shown
in Figure 3.7.

Hold down the Command key while you
erase, because the picture is in the background
rather than on the card. Holding down the
Command key while you erase actually paints
over the image with opaque white rather than
erasing.

5. Command-click with the pencil at the corners of
the tab to get to FatBits, where you can do the detail
work.

BUILDING A I'KRSONAI, INFORMATION BASE

109

t File Edil Go Tools Paint Options Patlerns

Car

□

Credit C3rd5

IRA5

□

FIGURE 3-7 Modifyiiif; a tab on the "Car" card. Yoit can use any of the Paint
tools til modify the picture on this card. If you erased normally on
this card, yau would really erase nothing because this picture is in
the background. But when you hold down the Command key while
you erase, you're actually painting with white rather than erasing,
and thv effect is that you no longer see thruugb to the background
picture.

Click pixels on the screen to create a diagonal
line to separate the tab on the frontmost card
from the rest of the cards as shown in Figure
3.8.

6. Command-click again to return to the normal
view.

Review your detail work.

7. Hold down the Option key while you press "D" to
see the "data."

All you see are the changes you made to the
picture. Holding down the Option key and

110

CHAPTER 3 BUILDING STACKS

m Vile Edit Go Tooli F^int Oplions Patterns

• 1

'■a

FIGURE 3-8 FatBits makes detailed work easier to control. Each square

represents a pixel on the screen. You can click the squares off or on
to make them ivhite or black.

pressing "D" shows you the data in the card
picture, hnt not the background picture.

8. Hold down the Option key while you type "O" for
Opaque.

HyperCard highlights the opaque portions —
everything you pasted on the card picture.

All painting you do is opaque when you draw it or
paste it in from the Clipboard. HyperCard tries to
clean up after you (and save some space on the disk)
by removing any opacity that's not actually obscuring
a background picture underneath it. HyperCard
checks the opacity whenever you leave a card and
removes any that's not covering something. If there's
nothing underneath, there's no reason for opacity,
and HyperCard automarically makes it transparent.

BUILDING A NEW MONTHLY CALENDAR

111

Alter the card picture of each of the other cards in the
same way, to show each card's tab at the front of the
stack. Extend the horizontal Hne across the "Bank"
tab and then expose the individual cards' tabs.

Building a New Monthly
Calendar

The Home card includes buttons that go to the
Weekly and Yearly calendars and the To Do list,
which are all part of the Datebook stack. The Cal-
endar button takes you to a card with a six-month
view, and the Weekly button takes you to a card that
shows the current week. But most people feel strongly
about how they visualize time, and you may not see
your time divided up into weeks. The Stack Ideas
stack has a number of calendar alternatives you can
use to build new calendar stacks. Here's how you can
create a calendar stack that matches your picture of
time.

1. Go Home.

2. Go to Stack Ideas.

You see the first card in a garden of stack seed-
lings you can use to start new stacks. Figure
3.9 shows this card.

3. Click the "Monthly Cal 1" picture.

This takes you to the card you can use as a
template for a new monthly calendar stack.
This card is shown in Figure 3.10. The Stack
Ideas stack is just a collection of individual
cards — each with its own background. This
card's background has a background picture,
fields, and buttons.

« File Edit Oo Tools Objecls

STACK IDEAS

INDEX

Addre^i ojrJ I AdiJrer; cjrd 2 ^ddrs?? card 3 Addreii Eool *ppi BoL^k Phon^ He^i

Tn Dn ToJd<j

Daily D->ly Cai 1 Daily Cil 2 Vwrlj Cal 1 Vsfkly Cal 2

Wetklij CjI ; Monlhly Cal I Memo
Click on a picture 1q go 1o that card

Hand cir d

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

FIGURE 3-9 /I cant of slack "seedlings" you can plant in new or existing sUuks.

A seedling comes complele with its hackgrtmnd. and new cards yoii
add after il share the same background.

File Edit Go Tools Objects

June

Tues Wed

19Q7

Sun

1 1

i;.

HGURE .1-10

'l'l)e Monthly calendar seedhng is a card with a background thai
includes a pictnre of an entire niinilh. 'Ihe background alsti
includes an V.xteud button thai profhigates an entire year of
nuintbs. each ini a neir card. I'he luitlini aiiloinalically calcniales
the correil nionlhs based on the current dale.

BUILDING A NEW MONTHLY CALENDAR 113

4. Choose New Stack from the File menu.

Thib is the same thing you did when you cre-
ated the lateral tiles stack for your finances.

Hint

Where you are when you choose New Stack is im-
portant, because HyperCard makes a copy of the
current background to use as a template for the
new stack. If you should ever want to create a new
stack without copying from an existing stack, you
can do that by clicking Copy Current Background
to uncheck it and create a blank new stack with a
blank background.

5. Name the new calendar stack.

Call it any name you'll remember or recognize
easily in a list of stacks. Click the Ideas Stacks
title at the top of the list to get to the other
folders, if any, on the disk. Click the Drive
button to see hard disks or other disks you
insert in other disk drives. If you have a hard
disk, you probably have copied each of the
HyperCard disks to it, and getting at any of
your stacks is no problem. If youVc using an
800K external disk drive with your Macin-
tosh, you just have to be a little cagier in plan-
ning where to keep your work.

Put the new stack on any disk where you have
the space. (The New button is dimmed if
there's not enough space on the current disk.
Use the Drive and Eject buttons to move
among other disks you can use to create your
calendar.) If you place the new stack in a

114

CHAPTER 3 BUILDING STACKS

folder, remember that the entire folder^ — in-
cluding your new stact: — will be replaced any-
time yon drag another ioldcr with the same
name to this disk. You might want to put yonr
own stacks in "My Stacks."

Hint

If ever HyperCard can't Hnd a stack it needs, it asks
you to point to the right folder and never again
forgets where yuu told it to look. It adds the correct
pathname to its list on the "Look f(3r Stacks in"
card in the Home stack.

6. When you have the new calendar named and in
the folder you want it, click New.

Voila! You've created another new stack. This
new stack has just one background with one
card. But with this calendar you don't have to
manually add each month's cards and dates.
Whenever you create a new stack from this
stack seedling, HyperCard asks you if you'd
like to make a full year's worth of calendars.

7. Click OK to have HyperCard create more cards
for the stack, one for each of the remaining months
in the year.

HyperCard uses the current month as the
starting point, first checking the calendar tu
see what date it is. It adds a card for the next
month, puts the name of the month in the
Month field, and the days of the month in the
correct box on the calendar. It knows how
many days each month has, and even keeps
track of leap years.

BUILDING A NEW MONTHLY CALENDAR 115

Hint

Check the Alarm Clock setting by choosing Alarm
clock from the Apple menu, and reset it if neces-
sary. HyperCard uses the current time and date in
many of its actions. If your Macintosh clock is set
wrong, the calendars won't work correctly.

8. Use the left and right arrow keys on the keyboard
to move among the cards in the calendar.

As you can guess, the left arrow takes you to
the previous month, the right arrow takes you
to the next month. The Command key plus
left arrow takes you to the first month (the
hrst card in the stack) and the Command key
plus right arrow takes you to the last month
in the calendar — the last card in the stack.

Hint

If you have an older Macintosh keyboard, it
doesn't have arrow keys. But you can do the same
thing by pressing Command-2 for l-'revious and
Command-3 for Next.

Trying the
Buttons

The calendar you created by starting with the Stack
ideas template also includes several bntttms. You can
keep those buttons the way they are or link them to
new destinations.

Here's how you might use the existing buttons.
Say you have a lunch date you want to confirm.

116 CHAPTER 3 BUILDING STACKS

Your calendar says "Lunch with Andy at Fontanas."
Choose Find from the Edit menu or press Command-
F to display the Message box with the Find command
and an insertion point. Command-click the word
"Andy" on your calendar to place the text at the in-
sertion point; click the small Address card to take you
to your Address stack; and press the Return key to
Hnd Andy's card in the Address stack. You could also
check the restaurant's phone number while you're in
the Address stack. Finally, press the Go Back key at
the top left of the keyboard a couple of times to re-
turn to the Monthly calendar.

Let's say Andy wasn't at his desk when you called
him. Click the "To Do" picture. This takes you to a
list of things to do, which is actually part of the
DateBook stack that includes the Weekly and six-
month calendar. Make a note to call him back. Use
the Go Back key to return to the calendar.

Copying a
Button from
the Button
Collection

just as you can copy pictures from anywhere in ex-
isting HyperCard stacks, you can copy any button
that already exists in HyperCard. The Button Ideas
stack has a great assortment of buttons in one place,
but you could also select any button anywhere and
copy it to a new place.

The button you'll copy, the speeding cards button,
will quickly flip through the pages of your calendar;
it would be convenient to have the button on each

BUILDING A NEW MONTHLY CALENDAR 117

card in the new Calendar stack so you can get a birds'
eye view of what's corning up.

Hint

Remember that most buttons have scripts that de-
fine aaions such as going to a certain card or sort-
ing cards in a stack or choosing menu commands
for you. If you don't yet know how to edit these
scripts, experiment only with buttons that have ob-
vious actions you can use — a left or right arrow,
for example, that takes you to the previous or the
next card.

1. Go to the button collection by selecting the Browse
tool, choosing Message from the Go menu, typing:
Go Button Ideas and pressing the Return key.

This takes you to the first card in the Button
Ideas stack as shown in Figure 3.1 1. Like the
Stack Ideas stack, this stack is a collection,
rather than a working stack. It has an inter-
esting assortment of ready-made buttons you
can copy.

Mini

The Message box isn't just fur the Find command.
You can also type the Go command, followed by
the name of the stack you want to go to.

2. Click any of the buttons named "Home, Business"
to see a collection of commonly used buttons.

You'll see some of the same icons that appear
on the Home card and other HyperCard
stacks.

118 CHAPTER 3 BUILDING STACKS

i File Edit Go Tools Objects

Click an any word nf pic!ijr» 'n go tn ^Kal card

j^.* First, Previous, Next, Last, Return

« « «. 4 ** Other Arrows

f T t ■ T j Text

(Si □ ^ Icons

(SB a s Home, Business

p ? About, Help, Information

K )5i Miscellaneous

FIGURE 3- 1 1 The button collection is full of buttons you can copy to your own
stacks. Some buttons use text to describe what they do: others
come complete with icons. When you copy a button you also get
hi scrip!, which prc/mdes the button's acliiin.

3. Click the Button tool.

Whenever you want to create, copy, or modiK'
a button you use the Button tool.

4. Click to select the button that looks like multiple
cards speeding by.

The button says "View" beneath it. When
you're using the Button tool, all buttons on
the card are outlined. All the buttons on the
card or in the card's background are oudined
in black. You can see which buttons are in the
background by holding down both the Com-
mand and Option keys. Background buttons
have a double border. Clicking any one of the

BlJlLOiNC A NEW MONTHLY CALENDAR

119

outlined buttons selects it so that you can
modify or copy it.

5. Choose Copy Button from the Edit menu.

Just as HyperCard copies a picture when you
have a picuire selected, and text when text is
selected, whenever you've selected a button,
HyperCard copies the button and any script
that button has.

if you're copying a button that includes an icon, it
will be copied along with the button. You can tell
whether a picture is an icon because it's limited to
32 by 32 pixels in size and it moves along with the
button when you drag it with the Button tool. Use
icons where you can to save yourself some work in
creating a picture. But if the button is separate from
the picture, you must use the Paint tools to copy
the picture separately, thus going through the copy
and paste routine twice.

6. Press the tilde key to retrace your steps back to the
Calendar stack.

You want to paste the button into the cal-
endar.

7. Choose Background from the Edit menu to edit
the card's background.

Just as with pictures, buttons can be in the
background, where they're shared by every
card that has that background. Or they can be
on the card itself.

120 CHAPTER 3 I BUILDING STACKS

8. Choose Paste Button from the Edit menu.

The button is pasted onto the Calendar stack's
background, in the same position you copied
from. You will quickly grow to love the way
HyperCard remembers objects" positions and
dumps them into the same relative spot. It
saves you lots of time in adjusting objects fo
line up properly.

However, in this case the button's old position
isn't the best place for the button in the new
stack.

9. Use the Button tool to drag the button to the top
left corner of the calendar.

You can see where to place this button in Fig-
ure 3.12.

BUILDING A NEW MONTHLY CALENDAR

121

Hint

As with fields, you don't have to be in the back-
ground to move this background button. The only
time it mattets whether or not you're in the back-
ground is when you create a button or field.

10. Try the speeding cards button by clicking it using
the Browse tool.

When you choose the Browse tool, Hyper-
Card takes you out of the background. Click-
ing the button flips you through the pages of
your calendar so that you can quickly see
what's coming up.

11. Use the Button tool to double-click the button.

DoublE-clicking the button with the Button
tool brings up the Button Info dialog box for
that button.

Standard Macintosh buttons are highlighted when-
ever you click them. Autohighligbting is also one of
the properties you can set for HyperCard buttons.

12. Click the Auto hilite check box and then click
OK.

Clicking Auto hilite sets the button to be in-
verted (black becomes white and vice-versa)
whenever you click the button using the
Browse tool.

13. Use the Browse tool to try the bunon again.

Now the button is highlighted whenever you
click it.

122 CHAPTER i I BUILDING STACKS

Summary

In this chapter, you've had a taste of building new
stacks by starting with a stack seedling and modifying
it to create a stack. You can also create a stack from
the ground up, designing it from spare parts you find
around HyperCard and some new parts you create
yourself. The next chapter tells you how to design a
stack from scratch.

I-.,-.

Chapter 4

"/ can see that a
certain amount of
restraint is needed. "
Kevin Kelly, Editor,
The Whole Earth
Review

Designing New Stacks

New Stacks

In the last chapter you saw how you can use the stack seedlings in the
Stack Ideas stack to create and customize new stacks. You built an
organizing stack for your financial information and you built a cal-
endar where you could see a month at a time. Building stacks out of

CHAPTER 4 DESIGNING NEW STACKS

Stack seedlings is the easiest way to get started in
building your own stacks.

This chapter shows you how to design and create a
stack to keep track of a small business — your cus-
tomers and the services you provide for them. Al-
though this example shows a housekeeping business,
you could use the stack for any small business. And
you can use the techniques you learn in this chapter
to build any custom stack.

Thinking About
What the New Stack
Should Do

Maybe you\e always kept track of your small busi-
ness on paper, using a calculator to total up costs,
keeping records in the top drawer of your desk, won-
dering from rime ro time if you missed a payment
from one of your clients or if you charged them ac-
curately for last month's service. But now with a
Macintosh and HyperCard, its time to get organized.

You don't have to be a mathemarical whiz or buy an
expensive, complicated accounting program to keep
track of a small business. You can do it ail with a
HyperCard srack you design yourself. For this client
billing example, the new stack should:

keep a list of clients, with name, address,
phone number

keep track of services rendered and
amounts due, including amonnts past
due

provide a simple bill that yuu can print
and send to the client

THINKING ABOUT WHAT THE NEW STACK SHOULD DO

125

Creating a
New Address
Stack

The Address stack that comes with HyperCard is al-
ready set up to keep track of people's names, ad-
dresses, and phone numbers. You could just put your
client list there. But sometimes it makes sense to have
a separate list for a specific purpose— so that you can
print labels to send bills or advertising to your clients,
for example. And in the case of this small' business, it
would be convenient to combine this address list with
a simple bill you can send to your customers, as
shown in this chapter.

Why Create a
New Stack?

You already have an Address stack. You could add
your clients' names to it and modify the new cards to
hold additional information that the original Address
stack doesn't allow for. One reason to start a new
stack is just for mental organization and comfort. It
might just feel better to have all of your business con-
tacts together in one stack. Another reason is that you
might decide to make major changes to the stack —
changes that wouldn't work for cards in the original
Address stack.

You could later add a new background to the original
stack to meet the needs of your client list, but it's
cumbersome to move existing cards into a new back-
ground later. It's also generally a good idea to mini-
mize the number of different backgrounds within a
stack because a stack is at its best when it looks and

126 CHAPTER 4 i DESIGNING NEW STACKS

feels l.kc a cohesive un.t-^lesigned that way rather
than grown into a multibackgrounded hodgepodgt.
It's best to anticipate early on that you want some
separation and to start a new stack right then and
there.

Hint

Try to anticipate what yon want a stack to do and
plan It from the start. It's much easier than reorg-
anizing a stack that already has many cards m it.

Here's how to create a new stack starting with the
existing Address stack;

1 Go to any card in the Address stack so that you
can use its background as a model for your new
stack.

Remember that most of what you do m
HyperCard is based on copymg what you
need from somewhere else-a button from the
Button Ideas stack, a card from the Card deas
stack, or a background from the Stack Ideas
stack, for example. In this case you re really
doing the same thing you did when you made
the calendar from the calendar seedling ex-
cept that you're copying a background from
an existing, working stack instead of from a
collection stack.
2. Choose New Slack from the File menu.

HyperCard presents a list of stacks that al-
ready exist in the current folder (the folder the
Address stack is in). There's a blank for the
new stack s name, and a checkbox for copying
the current stacks background, as shown in

THINKING ABOUT WHAT THE NEW STACK SHOULD DO

127

HGUKE 4- 1 YtjHVe not limited to the Slack Ideas ami Card idejs stacks for
starting new stacks. You can use any existing slack as a model.
Starting a new stuck from the Address stack gii'es you all the
fiiiict!<))!alily of the original stack without its text.

Figure 4.1. if you unchecked this box, your
new stack would start out with a blank back-
ground, in which you could create or paste in
new background pictures, burtons, and fields.
Bur for this client list you'll copy the back-
ground used by the Address stack. There-
fore, leave the Copy Current Background box
checked.

3. Name the stack by typing "My Clients" in the
blank space, and then click New.

When you click New, the stack is saved in the
folder named at the top of the list, "^bu could
also use the Drive and Eject buttons to move
among folders and disks ro place the new
stack anywhere you want it. The tide at the
top of the list names the current folder, where
the new stack will be placed.

128

CHAPTER 4 DESIGNING NEW STACKS

HyperCard creates a new stack with one card
in it. It looks like any of the cards in the Ad-
dress stack — except that it has no text.

Whenever you create a new stack based on an exist-
ing stack, you get a copy of the background of what-
ever card you were looking at when you chose the
New Stack command. This includes the background
picture, fields, and buttons. You don't get the text
that was on the original card, and you don't get any
card pictures, card fields, or card buttons.

Each time you create a stack, use a name that accu-
rately describes the contents. Giving documents
meaningful names is an old rule you may have heard
so many times you no longer think about it. But if
you're not yet doing it, start now. You'll be amazed
at how much more organized you'll feel if you can
scan stack names in the Finder and know exactly
which stack you want. And if you keep dated ver-
sions of stacks— "Expenses August 1987," for ex-
ample— you'll be able to get to the right stack
without having to check its last modified date.

Getting
Information
About Stacks

You can always find out information about the cur-
rent stack using the Stack hifo command m the Ob-
jects menu.

The Objects menu is devoted to information about
objects. "Objects" is the genetal word for things like
stacks, backgrounds, cards, Helds, and buttons. You
don't see the Objects menu unless you've checked
User Level Author or above on the Preferences card

THINKING ABOUT WHAT THE NEW STACK SHOULD DO

129

in the Home stack. But once youVe become an au-
thor (as you have when you've used the Button or
Field tools), you can use the Objects menu to find out
about any object in HyperCard, including stacks you
yourself create.

Hi?it

if you don't see the Objects menu in the menu bar,
go Home and press the left arrow key to go to the
User Preferences card. Click Auth(3r.

1. Choose Stack Info from the Objects menu.

The dialog box that appears (shown in Figure
4.2) shows the name you just gave this
stack— My Clients. It also tells you where the
stack is, including the disk it's on followed by
the names of any folders it's in. Colons sepa-
rate each level of this pathname. Right now
this stack contains just one card (HyperCard
starts you off with one) and one back-
ground — the background you copied from the
Address stack.

Also shown here is the current size of the stack — in-
cluding the current card and the one background—
and the amount of space free — currently 0. The
amount of space free is the minimum amount you
would save if you chose Compact Stack from the File
menu. It's nothing now, but as you work on a stack —
addmg and moving fields, buttons, and text— space
gets used on the disk that you can recover by com-
pacting the stack. The stack's performance also gets
slower as the disk space is used less efficiently. Com-
pactmg a stack reduces it to its minimum size and
maximum efficiency.

130

CHAPTER 4 DESIGNING NEW STACKS

' <t rile Edit Go Tools

FIGURE 4-2 The SUick Info dijli>g box i^ivfs you information about the current

miiiie. which yoii can change here if you want, where the
stack hues {colons mdic.ile a hierarchic.il Icrc! such as a folder,
disk, or file server), the number of cards in the slack, the number of
backgrounds in the stack, and the amount of space that could lie
recovered on the disk by using the Ccjmpact Stack command in the
File menu.

Hint

Compacting stacks keeps them as small and as tast
as possible.

2. Click Cancel to go back to the card.

You can have more than one stack with the same
name, as long as the stacks are in different l^olders.
The "Look for Stacks In" card (see Figure 4.3) in the
Home stack tells HyperCard which folders to look
for stacks in.

If you have two stacks with the same name in two
different folders, HyperCard will normally open the

THINKING ABOUT WHAT THE NEW STACK SHOUI D DO

131

* File Edil Go Tooli Objects

EIGURE 4-3

The "Look for Stacks In" card in the Home stack lists the places
HyperCard knows to look for stacks. When you add a stack to any
folder not listed on the card, you add the folder's entire pathname
to the list.

Always choose Cancel in a dialog box when you
want to leave something the way it is. In some
cases, clicking OK may record some information
you really don't want. For example, when you
open a button's script, HyperCard puts some in-
formation into it — a control strucrure you'll learn
about in the next chapter. IF you aren't going to
add something else, yon don't really want
HyperCard's additions either. Better to Cancel.

one in the first folder named in the list of pathnames
on the "Look for Stacks In" card. Anytime you use
LinkTo in the button dialog box to make a link, the
link will go to the correct stack, hi the case of two

CHAPTER 4 DESIGNINC; NEW STACKS

identical stack names, a link to the first one on the
list will include just a stack name, while a link co the
second one will have a tull pathname.

Hint

If HyperCard is confused ahout where to find a
stack, it asks you to point to die ri^ht folder by
bringing up the standard tile dialog box and asking
where the stack is. After yon use the dialog box to
open the stack you want, it always knows where
to find that stack because it adds the correct path-
name to the list on the "Look for Stacks In" card
in the Home stack. If you later move the stack, it
asks you again and again updates the list.

Many stacks include more than one background — co
have different background buttons, fields, or pictures
within the same stack. The Address stack has just one
background, however. Therefore, it doesn't matter
which of the Address cards you're at when you
choose New Stack. You'll get tlie same background.

Hint

You can find out how many backgrounds exist in
the current stack by choosing Stack Info from the
Options menu.

Adding
Clients'
Names

Start to develop your new stack by adding cards for
a few clients. Here's how to do it:

THINKING ABOUT WHAT THE NEW STACK SHOULD DO

133

1. Use the Browse tool to click with the I-beam
pointer near the top left corner of the card — in the
name and address field. When you see an insertion
point, type a clients name and address.

As you move the pointer around in the top left
corner of the card, notice that the pointer
changes shape, depending on where you've
positioned it. When the pointer is over a text
field it becomes an I-beam so that you can add
text. This is true anywhere in HyperCard. The
background picture of your new stack in-
cludes an angle bracket to give you a clue
where ro click, but many stacks don't indicate
text fields with a picture. The I-beam pointer
is your clue yon can click to edit text.

Hint

Be consistent in ordering all of the names in the
same way [last name first, usually). Later when you
sort the stack you'll be glad you did.

With most word processors, clicking anywhere be-
yond the text causes the insertion point to jump to
the first available space following the existing text.
But HyperCard adds extra Return characters when
necessary, so that clicking in any spot places the in-
sertion point at the nearest left margin.

Hint

Yuu can also press the Tab key to select the next
field, if there's nothing in the field, HyperCard
places an in.sertion point there. If there's already
text in the field, HyperCard selects the existing text
and anything you type will replace that text.

134

CHAPTER 4 1 DESIGNING NEW STACKS

There's a second field on this card just for phone
numbers.

2. Click in the second field or press the Tab key and
type the client's phone number or numbers.

Keeping the clients' names in a separate field
from their phone numbers means that later, if
you want to print just their names and ad-
dresses (for mailing labels, for example) you
can select and print just the name and address
field. Or if you want to sort the list by tele-
phone area code, you can do that by sorting
by the phone field.

Hint

If you get in the habit of typing phone numbers in
a consistent way— area code surrounded by paren-
theses, prefix and number separated by a hyphen-
dialing a number you place in the Message box by
Command-dragging over it and then pressing a
dial button will work consistently.

3. When you've finished adding the first client's infor-
mation, add a card for another client by choosing
New Card from the Edit menu or pressing Com-
mand-N.

A new, blank card appears. The text you type
into a field belongs to the specific card you
type It on, even if the field is a background
field. Text you type onto this new card will
belong specifically to it. Type in the informa-
tion for another client on the next card.

Press the Tab key to get an insertion point or
click in the first field.

THINKING ABOUT WHAT THE NEW STACK SHOULD DO

135

* File [(III bo Tunis Ubjecis

Cady Haskin
2763 Drofnats Ct
Mountain View, CA 91942

S (415) 555-54751

FIGURE 4-4 Typing into an address card. You can type ivhenever the Browse
toot pointer is an I-beam. Click to get tin insertion point.

Figure 4.4 shows a new card with its infor-
mation filled in.

4. Add the rest of your clients' names to new cards in
the stack, choosing New Card, tabbing, and typing
for each client you want to add.

Of course, you don't have to add all of the
clients now. Whenever you want to add a new
name, choose New Card from the Edit menu,
click with the I-beam pointer, and type the
new information. New cards are always
added after the card you're looking at when
you choose New Card. You can alphabetize
as you go, or add cards anywhere and use the
Sort button to rearrange them, as shown in
the next section.

136

CHAPTER 4 DESIGNING NEW STACKS

Deleting
Cards

You can get rid of names and addresses you no longer
need by selecting the text on them and replacing it
with new information. But it's just as easy to get rid
of the whole card and add new ones exacdy where
you need them. Here's how to do that:

1. Choose Delete Card from the Edit menu.

This deletes the current card. You can also
press Command-Backspace to delete the cur-
rent card. (If that's not what you wanted to
do, you can immediately choose Undo from
the Edit menu.) When you delete a card,
HyperCard takes you to the next card in the
stack.

Hint

Undo can recover cards you didn't really mean to
delete.

Ordering and
Sorting New
Stacks

Cards are arranged in the order you add them. Every
new card you add is placed following the card you're
looking at when you add the card. So if you want to
keep the cards in alphabetical order, you could just
create them that way— from A to Z. And when you
want to add new cards, you can go to the card that

THINKING ABOUT NSHAT THE NEW STACK SHOULD DO

137

* File tdil (io Tools nhject

Cady Haski.i
2763 Drofnats Ct

Mr,iin|-3in Vipw PA 0404';'

5ort all rardi of this stack Bctorfling to:

first Name

Last Name

tJ (415) 555-6-175

FIGURE 4-5 The Sort button's script presents two possibilities for sorting the
stack— by the first or hist name in thv first line nf the Name and
Address text field.

would precede the new card alphabetically, create a
new card there, and add the new name and address.

You don't really have to worry about whether you
add cards in alphabetical order or not. You can
change the order the cards are sorted in whenever you
want, by following these steps:

1. Click the Sort button to the left of the Address
card.

The Sort button is at the bottom left of the
card. It has a hand rearranging cards. Clicking
it presents a dialog box that gives you options
for sorting the cards in the current stack — by
first or last name— or to Cancel. Figure 4.5
shows this dialog box.

138

CHAPTER 4 I DESIGNING NEW STACKS

2. Click Last Name to sort the cards by your clients'
last names.

HyperCard sorts your clients by last name.
But what if you had entered your clients"
names last name iirst? To HyperCard, last
name means just that you want to sort the
cards by the last word of the first line. It
doesn't know whether that's really a first name
or a last name. You'll find out ways to edit the
script that presents this dialog box in the next
chapter, but, for now, if Last Name were first
on the cards, you'd just click First Name to
tell HyperCard to sort by last name.

3. Click the Sort button again.

4. This time sort by First Name to alphabetize and
reorder the cards by the first word in the first line of
the field.

Although you can sort cards by whatever
scheme you choose — last word of first line, for
example, or first word of first line, it's gener-
ally a good idea to think about keeping con-
sistency in the order of items on a card. It's
true that HyperCard can find a name whether
youVe entered it first name first or last name
first, but following a consistent order when
you add names to cards will allow you to use
the arrow keys (either the arrow keys on the
keyboard or the buttons in the stack that
point to the left or right) to move sequentially
through the list in the order you want. Keep-
ing the list consistent also lets you print the
stack in a consistent order. As long as you
keep them on the Macintosh screen, you
probably won't notice any problem finding
things in HyperCard. But once you have to

DESIGNING THE WAY THE BILL LOOKS

139

rely on your eyes scanning and juggling a
printed client list, you might wish you'd kept
it in alphabetical order.

Designing the Way the
Bill Looks

Although you probably want your client list to keep
track of your customers' names and addresses (just as
the Address stack does), you could also use this list
as customers' bills to send out at the end of the
month. Traditionally, you'd probably keep track of
your customers' names and addresses with a database
and use a spreadsheet trf keep track of what they owe
you. But with HyperCard you can combine both
functions into a single stack.

You can add fields to keep track of the amounts cur-
rently due and you can add buttons that calculate
what your clients owe you. You can even change the
entire look of the stack by adding a picture to its
background.

Changing the

Background

Picture

You can borrow an entire background to use in your
own stacks— as you just borrowed a background
from the existing Address stack to use as a template
for your client list. But you don't have to borrow an
entire background. You can also borrow just a picture
to use in a background or on a single card. Any pic-
ture in any existing stack is fair game.

140 CHAPTER 4 DESIGNING NEW STACKS

Some stacks are collections, rather than "working"
stacks. The Card Ideas stack is a collection of pictures
to use generally as single cards within your stacks.
The Stack Ideas stack generally has complete back-
grounds to use as models for new stacks. But like any
pictures anywhere in HyperCard, the pictures in the
Stack Ideas stack can be copied and pasted onto other
cards in other stacks— either in the background or on
individual cards. And you don\ have to take an entire
picture. You can also select just part of one of these
pictures and add only that part to a card or back-
ground anywhere.

In the following exercise, you'll learn how to change
a background's look by replacing its picture with one
you copy from somewhere else.

1. Go to the Stack Ideas stack, either by using the
Open Stack command and selecting Stack Ideas or by
using the Browse tool to type: Go stack "Stack
Ideas."

Stack Ideas is in the Idea Stacks folder.

2. Press the Return key.

You need to include quotes around the words
"Stack Ideas" because otherwise HyperCard
would look for a stack named "Ideas" and be
confused. Whenever HyperCard is confused
about which stack to open, it presents the
standard file dialog box with the question,
"Where is Ideas" (the stack you asked for).
Stack names that start with the word "Stack"
do need to be in quotes, because HyperCard
interprets the word "stack" as a general re-
quest for a stack rather than as part of the
stacks name.

DESIGNING THt WAY THE BILL LOOKS

141

t File Edit Go Tonis Objects

STACK IDEAS

INDEX

^ kt^ — jsJ I

Gtrifi-al Ldysuf I General Layoul 2 Dividfd CJrd Hdrdware In^e^f l.jyaijl 0|;"h Bunk 4

Dper, budk 1

-ibrar

Iniie.

F lip beck

Flip book 2

Click 0.1 a picture lo gr: llial card

=^3 H

FIGURE 4—6 Slack Ideas has several cards of seedlings to use in starting ynur

own stacks. This one includes a General Laytiut design that's basic
enough to he used for many different slack designs.

Hint

Whenever a stack name is more than one word, it
doesn't hurt to surround the stack name with
quotes whenever you tell HyperCard to go to that
stack. This tells HyperCard that you're specifically
designating the name of the stack.

3. Chck the hand that points to the right at the bot-
tom right of the card three times to go to the fourth
card of the Stack Ideas index, as shown in Figure 4.6.

The pointing hand is one of the conventions
HyperCard authors use for "Go to the next
card." Use the hand at the bottom right of the
page to move through the cards in this stack.

142

CHAPTKR 4 I DESIGNING NEW STACKS

' i File Edit Go Tools Ohjeits

People who
became
I words...

cbateaubriand

A Uiick Slice

01 tenderloin,
broiled and
served with
potatoes and a
sauce, often a
bearnaise sauoe

FRA.NCOIS.RE.NE DE_

CHATEAUBRIAND

[1768-184.8.) -

One old story tells us tiiatBrillat-Savarln dined m
Paris with the Vioornte Francois Rene de
Chateaubriand on the night that an anonymous
restaurant proprietor Invented "steak Chateaubriand"
in his honor The occasion, according to this version,
was the publication ol the French Romantic's LE GENIE
DU CHEIETIANISME, and the succulent tenderloin was
encased between two flanlc steaks, symbolizing Christ
and the thieves The outer stealcs, seared black, were
discarded, leaving the tc-nd^lom r?re ?nd ]\ucy

FIGURE 4-7 Although slack seedlings amiam j i:i»ii)>k'le background you can
use in new stacks, ynu don't hair to copy the entire background.
You may just want the picture^ivithaut copying the fields and
buttons that are there.

4. Click the "General Layout 2" miniature to go to
the card shown in Figure 4.7.

Hint

You can make these miniature pictures yourself by
going to any card in HyperCard, choosmg Copy
Card from the Edit menu, and then holding down
the Shift key while you paste.

5. Drag down and off the Tools window to place it
anywhere on the screen.

If you have a large-screen Macintosh, you've
probably left the Tools window out to the side
of the HyperCard window so you can get at
tools easily without choosing from the menu.

DESIGNING THE WAY THE BILL LOOKS

143

File Edit Go Tools PainI Dpliont pBllern^

i -w^

□

FIGURE 4-8 Copying just the picture of the General Layout 2 seedling and

pasting it into your Client stack's background changes the look but
not the functionality of your stack.

6. Choose Background from the Edit menu to edit
the background.

The text and card picture momentarily disap-
pears because it's in the card, not the back-
ground. But you still see the background
picture— the card layout against gray — as
shown in Figure 4.8. And if you clicked the
Button or Field tool you'd see the background
buttons or fields outlined in gray.

7. Double-click the selection rectangle to select the
entire picture.

Marching ants appear around the entire card
picture to show it's selected. You can't see the
ants at the top of the picture because the
menubar is hiding them, but they are selected
anyway.

144 CHAPTER 4 DESIGNING NEW S I ACKS

Hint

A card extends bencarh the nienubar. Sometimts
it's useful to hide the menubar. For example, the
Introduction to HyperCard hides it so that readers
new to HyperCard won't wander off from the In-
troduction and get lost. You can always hide or
show the menubar by holding down the Command
key while you press the space bar.

8. Choose Copy Picture from the Edit menu to copy

the selected picture.

All you want from this background is its pic-
ture. If you wanted the buttons or fields, you'd
copy the entire card using the Copy Card
command in the Edit menu. Copy Card copies
the card and its background and adds the
background to the stack you copy the card to.

Hint

Pressing the key at the top left corner of the key-
board right now will undo your latest painting ac-
don — in this case, copying the picture — rather than
moving you back through cards. HyperCard does
this to he consistent with MacPaint and other
Paindng applicadons. While you're using the Paint
tools— as you are when you click the selection rec-
tangle — you can go back by pressing Command
tilde or Escape. You could also click the Browse
tool to leave the Paint tools and then click just the
top left key to go back as usual.

9. Choose Message box from the Edit menu (or type
Command-M) and then type: Go stack "My Clients"
and press Return. This lakes you to your new stack.

DESIGNING THE WAY THE BTLL LOOKS

145

10. Choose Background from the Edit menu or press
Command-B to work with the stack's background.

If you don't choose Background, you'll be
working just with the current card, and any
picture you paste in will appear only on that
card rather than on all cards you add to the
stack.

11. Choose Paste Picture from the Edit menu or press
Command -V.

HyperCard switches you back to the selecdon
rectangle (if you left it). It pastes the picture
you copied from Stack Ideas into your new
stack's background. Because the new picture
is the full card size, it completely replaces the
picture that was there^ — the picture of the Ad-
dress card.

Pasting a new picture into the background doesn't re-
place the other parts of the background that were
there. It replaces only the background picture. So the
fields that hold the name and address and the phone
numbers are still there. And so are the buttons that
take you Home, dial the phone, flip through the
cards, and sort the cards. You've combined features
from two stacks to give you exactly the look you
want.

Hmt

A picture is just a picture. You can copy a picture
from a background and place it on a card, or vice-
versa. Or you can grab a picture from a collection
such as the Art Ideas, Card Ideas, or Stack Ideas
stacks or from the Scrapbook or a MacPaint doc-
ument, and paste it onto either a card or a
background.

146

CHAPTER 4 I DESIGNING NEW STACKS

12. Choose the checked Background command from
the Edit menu or press Command-B to return to the
card.

Now you can see the card and its background
on your screen.

Designing the Buttons

Your client stack inherited seven buttons from the
Address stack you used as a model for the new stack.
The Dial button might come in handy when you
want to call one of your clients. You'll use the Sort
button to keep your clients' names sorted, and you'll
need the button that flips through the stack. But you
don't really need the buttons that go to the calendars
and To Do lists.

Hint

Even though these are background buttons, you
don't need to be in the background to edit their
structure.

Getting Rid
of Buttons
You Don't
Need

Here's how to delete the unwanted buttons:

1. Click the Button tool in the Tools palette and then
click the button that goes to the yearly calendar.

DESIGNING THE BUTTONS

147

4 File Edit Go Tools Object;

-TTTTTTTTfrfr

□

go stack "rny clients-

FIGURE 4-9 The original buttons ni your Client stack now need to he moved to
fit the neii' picture. And you can delete any button you no lonaer
need by selecting it and pressing the Backspace key.

This selects the Yearly calendar button so you
can delete it. Figure 4.9 shows the button
selected.

2. Press the Backspace key.

The button is deleted.

Hint

You could also select the button by clicking it and
then choose Cut Button or Clear Button from the
Edit menu to delete it.

3. Do the same with the Weekly calendar button and
the To Do button. Select each in turn and press the
Backspace key.

148 CHAPTER 4 DESIGNING NEW STACKS

Moving
Buttons on
the Card

Yuu could probably do without the Home button as
well, because you can always get Home by choosing
Home from the Go menu or typing Command-H.
But the Home button is a convenience that lets you
get Home with a single click, so why not just move it
to fit the new card.

You could leave the other buttons as they are, but
moving them will make the stacks design more
cohesive.

Here's how to move buttons:

1. Drag the Home button from its center downward
to move it to the top left comer of the card.

Here's more HyperCard serendipity at work.
In addition to takmg you to the Home card,
the Home button adds a nice graphic couch to
your Housekeeping business stack.

2. Drag the Sort button from its center to move it to
the bottom right side of the left panel.

Hint

Dragging from an edge outward changes the but-
ton's size; dragging inward makes it smaller; drag-
ging from the center moves it.

You can also close the Message box if yuu want by
clicking its close box.

USING PAINT TEXT 149

3. Drag the button that flips through the stack to the
left of the Sort button.

This arriingement visually balances the
buttons.

Hint

You can line up buttons by dragging one over the
other until they align perfectly, and then pressing
the Shift key and dragging the top button away.
Holding the Shift key down constrains the button's
movement to the same horizontal or vertical plane.

4. Drag the arrow buttons that go to Previous, Next,
or Return cards so they're near the bottom of the new
card.

Leave the phone button where it is. It still lines up
with the Phone Number field. Figure 4.10 shows the
buttons in their suggested places. The Return button
is selected.

Using Paint Text

YouVe been using the Browse tool to add text to
fields. But HyperCard also has another kind of text —
text you create using the Paint text tool.

Unlike regular, structured text Paint text can't be
searched, and you can't edit if in the way you select
and edit structured text. But Paint text has some def-

150

CHAPTER 4 I DESIGNING NEW STACKS

inite advantages as well. Because it doesn't need to be
in a field, you can create it on the fly and position it
anywhere you want it. And you can select it and ro-
tate it, flip it, fill it with patterns, or do anything else
you can do with a picture.

With Paint text you can also use text fonts that may
not later be available in the System file. You do need
to have the fonts you want to use for Paint text avail-
able in the System file when you create the text; you
just don't need them later, when you're using the
stacks you create. Using Paint text has the advantage
that once added to a card or stack, it's stored not as
text but as a picture, so it doesn't require that any
special fonts be present in the System file. This gives
you a lot more freedom in using unusual fonts.

USING PAINT TEXT 151

Hint

If youVe making stacks to be used by other people,
remember that they will have available for real text
only the fonts that are installed in their current Sys-
tem file. Try to use the fonts everyone has on their
current System file.

Identifying
the Fields

Now you'll add fields to this stack that show the
amount the customer owes you. Using Paint text in
the stack's background to identify these fields will
make the text appear on each card in the stack.

1. Click the Paint text tool in the Tools window.

It appears as the letter A in the bottom left
square.

2. Choose Text Style from the Edit menu or double-
click the Paint text tool.

Double-clicking the Paint text tool is another
way to get the Text dialog box. When you're
using the Paint text tool, any choices you
make apply to the current Paint text — the text
you're about to type or the text you just fin-
ished typing.

3. Select the New York 14 font, or any font that ap-
pears on your list. Click Align Right.

This will align the text on the right side so that
it lines up with the fields you're going to move
here.

4. Click OK to confirm your changes.

152 CHAPTER 4 I DESIGNING NEW STACKS

' i File Edil to Tools Objpctv

Lis'

Housekeeping

1632 Alison

n ■

□

217

853

FIGURE 4-11 ;J spot to add Pawl text hy chckmK the I'jmt text tool

Mid then cik-kiiiji where yoit wan! the text to j^o.

Hint

Clicking anywhere, going to another card, or
choosing a different tool when you've just typed
Paint text confirms the text you just typed. Tliat
means it is no longer text but a picture, and you
can't change it in the way you usually change
text— by Backspacing or dragging across it to select
it, for example.

5. Choose Background from the Edit menu.

You want to add the Paint text in the back-
ground of the card so that it will appear on
every card in the stack.

6. Click in the bottom right part of the card, at about
the spot shown in Figure 4. 11.

USING PAINT TEXT 153

You can move this text later, so don't worry if
it isn't in exactly the right place.

Hint Remember that the card includes everything you

see on the screen — nor just a part that looks like a
"normal" card. The card may actually include the
surrounding gray area that looks like background
but isn't.

7. Type: Past Due

As you type, the text scoots to the left because
you've told HyperCard to align the text on the
right side at the place you clicked.

8. Press the Return key.

This moves the insertion point to the next line,
just belovv' the right side of the first line.

9. Type: Charges

The right margin aligns with the field above.

10. Press the Return key.

You move again to the next line, where you
can type a label for the total amount now due.

11. Type: Total Due

Hint

You can Backspace to delete characters or double-
click the Paint text fool to make new choices for
the current text as long as you haven't yet con-
firmed the text by clicking, choosing another tool,
or going to another card.

154 CHAPTER 4 DESIGNING NEW STACKS

' 4 Vile Eiiil Co TonK Paint Dptionv Patterns

□

Past Due
Charges
ToLal Due

FIGURE 4-12 Using the Paint text tool tu add "Past Due," "Charges." and "Total
Due" labels

Figure 4.12 shows the "Past Due," "Charges" and
"Total Due" Paint text. Note that the right margins
are aligned.

12. Click anywhere to confirm the text.

Adding Your
Business Logo

Paint text is also a good choice for your business
logo. You don't need to search on this text, and you
can include Paint text on every card by putting it in
the background.

USING PAINT TEXT 155

Hint

Whenever you want the same image (a business
logo, for example) to appear on every card that
shares a common background, use Paint text in the
background.

Here's the way to add your logo:

1. Make sure Background is still checked in the Edit
menu.

Remember, you can confirm this by looking
for the short slashed lines in the menu bar.

2. CUck the Paint Text tool if it's not already selected.

3. Choose Text Style from the Edit menu or double-
click the Paint Text tool.

Double-clicking the Paint Text tool is a quick
way to get to the text dialog box.

4. Choose New York 14 Bold. Align the text on the
right side by chcking Align right and make it bold by
clicking Bold.

5. Click OK to confirm your choice.

6. Chck near the right side of the left panel and type
your business name.

Use the Backspace key to correct mistakes and
the Return key to start new lines.

Notice that if you type too close to the button,
you obscure ir with the Paint text you type.
Its easy to fix this by using the selection rec-
tangle to select the Paint text and then drag-
ging it away from the button.

Now you'll add your business address.

156

CHAPTER 4 I DESIGNING NEW STACKS

7. Click directly under the last letter of the last Hne
you typed. Then double-click the Paint text tool to
get the Text dialog box back again.

Choose a smaller point-size number for your
address and phone number, so that your logo
stands out and uncheck the Bold style.

Hint

It's important to click again before you change the
text style. Otherwise, the choice you make will af-
fect all of the text you just typed as well as what
you type next.

8. Type your address and phone number.

Use the selection rectangle or the lasso to
move any text you want to adjust.

Hint

Choosing Select or pressing Command-S just after
you've typed text selects the text you typed.

Stretching or shrinking Paint text

Because your logo is done with Paint text, you can
stretch or shrink any of it. Here's how:

1. Use the selecdon rectangle to surround the text you
want to alter— maybe the first part of your business
name.

2. Hold down the Command key while you drag a
comer of the selection to stretch or shrink it.

ADJUSTING THE TEXT FIELDS 157

Dragging outward stretches the image verti-
cally or horizontally or both, depending on
the angle at which you drag. Dragging inward
shrinks the image; dragging outward stretches
it. Experiment until you have the shape you
want. Use the Undo key to undo experiments
or use the Eraser tool to erase.

3. Choose the checked Background command to re-
turn to the card.

Choose Keep to save the current picture as the one
to revert to when you chose Revert. It's a good idea
to choose Keep right before you're about to em-
bark on any major change to a piaure but want to
preserve some changes you've made since you
came to the current card.

Adjusting the Text Fields

The Address stack you used as a template for your
new stack included three text fields that contain your
clients' name and address, phone numbers, and the
date of the last change to the card. (Whenever you
make any text change to any card in this stack, the
date in this field is automatically updated so that you
know how current your records are.)

Although these fields are useful in your new stack,
they're not positioned in the best place to work with
your new picture. You can use the Field tool to adjust
the fields.

CHAPTliR 4 DLSIGNING NEW STACKS

Hint

Make sure your Macintosh clock is set right by
choosing Aiarm Clock from the Apple menu.
HyperCard uses the same time and date settings
your Alarm clock shows. It also uses them to re-
cord a modification date for stacks (just as any ap-
plication records and shows in the Finder the date
of modifications to its documents).

Hint

Even though these are background fields, you don't
need to be in the background to edit their
structures.

1. Click the Field tool.

The Field tool is the tool for adding, modify-
ing, or deleting text fields — the containers that
bold text. You can also use the Field tool to
set a field's text properties such as font, size,
and style. (To add or edit the text itself, you
use the Browse tool to click whenever the
pointer is an I-beam.)

Hint

You can change text style when you have a field
selected with the Field tool, when you have an in-
sertion point or any selection in a field using the
Browse tool, or anytime you're using the Paint text
tool.

ADJUSTING THE TEXT FIELDS 159

* File EJil Do Tools Objecis

Liz'

Housekeeping

1 632 Alison
Columbus, OH

□

Lady Haskin

2763 Drofnat5.n^_,^_^^,lIl™ Zl^^

'■iouat9in„yjgW, £AM3^Z^~ IT Z

^15)555-6^75

- - - Past-Due

— — - . TK^rg^flr,

Total Due

:""""575/e7""'"i

FIGURE 4-13

Y<ni can use the Field tool to make any small adjustment you need
lo a field—moving it by dragging frmn the middle or changing its
size slightly by dragging from a corner.

When you're using the Field tool, you can see each
Held that appears on the card, including card fields
and background fields. Remember that even though
a field is in the background, the text within that field
belongs to individual cards within the background.
The field is just the container — what's in it varies
from card to card.

2. Drag the Name and Address field from its center
down and to the right. Drag inward from a corner to
make it slightly smaller so that it fits better on the
card.

Tweak its position by pulling on an edge to
make it larger or grabbing it from the center
to move it. Try to make it look like Fieure
4.13.

160 CHAPTER 4 DESIGNING NEW STACKS

Hint

As you work with stacks, you'll often modify the
shape and position of objects to look better or
make room for some other objects. Nothing is ever
"frozen" until you check Can't Modify Stack in the
Protect Stack command dialog box.

3. Drag the phone number field from its center to
correspond to the Name and Address field.

Adjust this field so that it is the same width as
the Name and Address field but shorter in
height.

4. Drag the Last Modified field from its center down
and to the left.

Make it line up at the left with the Name and
Address field.

5. Adjust each field so they all sit where you want
them on the white part of the card.

Don't worry if the fields aren't the perfect size,
shape, or position. You can adjust them again
later.

Creating a
New Field

You'll use the existing fields for clients' names, ad-
dresses, and phone numbers, and for keeping track of
when you last updated the bill. (That date will always
be displayed in the date held automatically whenever
you change any information on the card.) Now you'll
add a new field to keep track of what each client owes
you. Here's how:

ADJUSTING THE TEXT FIELDS

161

1. Choose Background from the Edit menu to edit
the background.

The fields you create should appear on each card in
the stack. Although you can edit existing background
fields without being in the background, new fields
you create are created either on a specific card or in
the background— depending on where you are when
you create them.

Hint

If you forget to choose Background before you cre-
ate a new field, you'll get a card field — a field that
appears on the current card only. You can easily
recover by selecting the field, choosing Cut Field
from the Edit menu, choosing Background from
the Edit menu, and choosing Paste Field from the
Edit menu.

2. Use the Field tool to Command-drag to create a
new field below the Phone Numbers field.

You can also create new fields by choosing
New Field from the Objects menu. But Com-
mand-dragging a new field lets you immedi-
ately draw the field any size you want and
place it anywhere you want.

You can now make some choices about the field—
what it should look like, what its name should be,
and what text style it should have, for example. You
could choose a font in the same way you did in the
last chapter, by selecting the field using the Field tool
and choosing Text Style from the Edit menu. But
there's another way to choose fonts and also make
the other choices you have about fields.

162 CHAPTER 4 DESIGNING NEW STACKS

File Edit Go Tools Objecls

FIGURE 4-14 The Field dialog box shows and lets you edit the field's name. It

also tells you whether this is a card or backgruwid field, its unique
Identification number ivithin the stack, whether or not it's locked,
whether or not it should show lines for the text, whether it should
have wide margins, and what style it should be.

3. Double-click the field to see its dialog box as
shown in Figure 4.14.

You can also see this same dialog box by se-
lecting the field and choosing Field Info from
the Objects menu.

4. Name the field by typing "Past Due" in the blank.

You don't have to name fields, but if you want
to refer to them later in scripts that let you
control what HyperCard does, it makes the
scripts easier to read and understand if you
can just refer to fields by name rather than by
number or ID.

5. Click Show Lines.

The field displays lines, just like ruled paper.

ADJUSTING THE TEXT FIELDS 163

6. Click the Font button to set a text style for this
field.

This is the same dialog box you see when you
choose Text Style from the Edit menu. Once
again you have choices for how the text in this
field should look.

7. Click New York 14.

Then click OK to approve the choice, and re-
turn to the card.

8. Use the Field tool to drag the field inward from
any edge to make it smaller and drag it from its center
to move it so that it's aligned at the right with the
other fields.

Make the new field just big enough to hold
one line of text — you'll later use this field to
keep track of any past balance due to you
from the customer. The horizontal line within
the field is the baseline for text you will type
into the field. Adjust the Name and Address
field, if necessary.

Hint

If you don't get a field exacdy in the right place or
the right size, you can change it later. Or you can
change its text tyle by selecting it with the Field
tool and choosing Text Style from the Edit menu
(or double-clicking the field to see its dialog box
and clicking Font to see the same dialog box).

9. Copy the new field by holding down both the Op-
tion and the Shift keys while you drag downward.

This creates a copy of the Past Due field. The
new field has the same properties as the orig-

CHAPTER 4 DESIGNING NEW STACKS

inal field— the same dimensions, the same text
style, and the same name. You'll use the copy
for the new field.
10. Double-click the new field and type: Charges to
rename this field in its dialog box. Click OK.

You1l use this field to keep track of the cur-
rent charges to the bill.

Hint

Holding down the Shift key while you Option-
Copy the field constrains the copy to the same hor-
izontal or vertical planes as the original. This same
rule applies to pictures or buttons you Option-drag
to copy. Its an easy way to make sure the copies
are the same size and in the same place as the
original.

11. Copy the Chaises field by Option-Shift-dragging
again.

The third new field will keep track of the
amount this client owes you for this month's
service,

12. Double-click the new field and type: Total Due in
the name blank. Click OK.

Clicking OK confirms the field name and text
style. Then it returns you to the card. Check
the appearance of the card,

13. Make any adjustments necessary to line up the
Paint text with the new fields.

Use the selection rectangle or the lasso to se-
lect the Paint text and then drag it to move it
as shown in Figure 4.15.

ADJUSTING THE TEXT FIELDS

* File Etii't Go ' Van

Colum!

555

||2fl_k_

□ o

o o

O a

HGURE 4-15 ;.a«o7>,i. a„d draggmg l\,.„t lext !n lh,c up u-itb the fieUs

Hint

The Paint text you typed identifies the field, but is
completely separate from the field's actual name.

1 4. Choose Background from the Edit menu to return
to the card.

Hint

It's generally easier to use the Field tool to select a
field and move it or adjust its size than it is to move
a picture to line up with an existing field. This is
because you can't see the structure of fields when
youVe using the Paint tools. You can get around
this problem by adding some text to the field so
that you can see where it is, or by temporarily
changing the field style to one that shows where
the field IS— rectangle or shadowed, for example

166 CHAPTER 4 DESIGNING NEW STACKS

Filling in Amounts Due

To see how each customer's bill will look, use the
Browse tool again. This hides the field's structure, al-
though the fields are still there to enter the appropri-
ate amounts in each field.

Moving
among Fields

1. Use the Browse tool to click in the first field — the

one you named "Past Due."

Move the pointer on the screen. When it's an
I-beam, you're over a field where you can click
to get an insertion point. You can also press
the Tab key to select an insertion point in the
first field in the background. In this stack the
first field is the Name and Address field. Press-
ing the Tab key puts an insertion point there.
Pressing the Tab key again takes you to the
next field — the phone numbers. The third
press takes you to the Last Modified field, and
the fourth puts the insertion point in the Past
Due field, where you can type in past due
charges.

Hint

The Tab key moves you first through background
fields, and then through card fields.

2. Type: 40.00

Be sure to use zeros from the top row of keys on the
keyboard instead of the character "o." To HyperCard

FILLING IN AMOUNTS DUE

167

they're very different. Don't use dollar signs either.
HyperCard needs to have plain old numbers to cal-
culate correctly Later, when you learn to use scripts
you could have HyperCard take off the dollar sign
before calculating the numbers, but for now leave
them off.

Hint

If the insertion point isn't exacdy where you want
It, use the Field tool to adjust the size or position
of the field.

3. Press the Tab key again or click in the Charges
field— the one below Past Du^and type: 40.00

Hint

What you call a field in identifying text you create
with the Paint text tool and what you call it in its
name blank arc totally different things. Any scripts
you write later should use the exact field name
when referring to the contents of a field.

If pressing the Tab key doesn't take you to the field
you expect, check the field numbers by choosing
Field Info from the Objects menu. The tabs take
you to the fields in numbered order. The fields are
numbered in the order in which they're created.
You can change that order using the Bring Closer
and Send Farther commands in the Objects menu.
Closer objects have higher numbers; farther objects
have lower numbers.

168

CHAPTER 4 1 DESIGNING NEW STACKS

t nie tdit Go Tools ObJecU

^ Liz"

Housekeeping

1 632 Alison
Columbus, OH
43217
555-7853

Cady Hasr-m
2753 Drofnats Ct.
Mountain View, CA 94942

(415)555-6475

PasLDue 40.00
Charges 40 00
Total Due 50 00

6/7/67

FIGURE 4-16 The completed bill

4. Press Tab or click in the third field— the one you
named "Total Due" and type: 80.00

Figure 4.16 shows a card with the Past Due, Charges,
and Total Due.

Adding Information for
Other Clients

Add charges for each of your clients by moving to
other cards in the stack, clicking in the text fiekis, and
tvping the amounts past due, the current charges, and
the total amount due. Use the arrow keys ro move ro
the previous or next card. Delete cards by choosing

ADDING THE NEW STACK TO THE HOME CARD

169

Delete Card from the Edit menu. Add cards by choos-
ing New Card from the Edit menu, clicking in the
name and address field, and typing the new chent's
name.

Adding the New Stack
to the Home Card

Now you have a stack to keep track of your clients'
names and what they owe you. Although you can get
to any stack by typing "Go" plus the stack name us-
ing the Open Stack command in the File menu, it's
much more convenient to have the stack represented
on the Home card, with a button that takes you to
the stack.

The Home card isn't an actual directory of existing
stacks in the way that folders and disks in the Finder
are directories. And creating a new stack doesn't au-
tomatically add it to the Home card. The Home card
is just a card with pictures and buttons. You can add
to the Home card the same way you add to other
cards.

The Home card is the first card in the Home stack,
which, like any stack, can have as many cards as
you want, hi addition to the first card, which is a
visual directory of stacks, the Home stack includes
cards for setting your preferences and for telling
HyperCard where to find stacks, applications, and
documents you create using other applications.

1 70 CHAPTER 4 DESIGNING NEW STACKS

Adding a
Picture to
Represent
Your New
Stack

The pictures on the Home card generally hint ;u what
the various stacks do. The first step in adding your
stack to the Home card is to add a picture that rep-
resents your new stack.

YouVe seen the miniature pictures HyperCard uses to
represent cards. For example, when you choose Re-
cent from the Go menu, you see miniature represen-
tations o( the last 42 cards you've seen. And when
you scout the Card Ideas or Stack Ideas stacks you
also see miniatures of the cards within the stacks.

You can create your own miniatures of any card. Do
the following now to make a miniature of your client
list stack.

1. Click the Browse tool and go to the first card in
the client stack, if you're not already there.

Hint

Pressing the Command and left arrow keys simul-
taneously or choosing First from the Go menu
takes you to the first card in the current stack.

2. Choose Copy Card from the Edit menu.

Now this entire card is on the Clipboard,
ready to be pasted anywhere. This is the same

ADDING THE NEW STACK TO THE HOME CARD

command you use to cut and paste entire
cards among stacks.

3. Choose Home from the Go menu or press Com-
mand-H.

4. Hold down the Shift key and then choose Paste
i'lcture from the Edit menu.

You could also hold down first the Shift and
also the Command keys while you type "V."
The miniature picture of your'new stack is
pasted on the Home card.

HyperCard knows what's on the Clipboard— text
pictures, a button, a field, or an entire card WherJ
you next choose Paste, HyperCard reminds you
what you cut by including the object in the Paste
command.

The pic-ture appears in the middle of the card. While
It's still selected, you can move it anywhere on the
screen, change it from Opaque to Transparent (to let
an underlymg picture show through), or modify it us-
ing any of the commands in the Paint menu. Figure
4.17 shows the picture moved to an empty spot on
the Home card.

Images are opaque when they're pasted in from the
Clipboard. Since there's nothing under this picture
tiiat you want to show through, leave it opaque

172

CHAPTER 4 DESIGNING NEW STACKS

' t File Edit Go Tools Faint q plions Patte rns
IB Home Card

Phcnt

IMI Nil
III I'll

■h o

□

■'@

□

Ord Idiii Button lOtll Stioli Idtjs Oil»'«ti'"'!

Dctumenls Fil* Indsn Book Sh*lf

Ciltndtr Slid 5 Show HypeiCak

3:50 PI-1

FIGURE 4-17 Pasting a miniature onto the Home card. Holding down the Shift
key while you paste a copied card turns the card picture into a
mini.nuri'. This is bandy for representing one card on another
card— the Home card, for example.

Hint

If you accidentally click anywhere outside the se-
lection, the picture is no longer selected and no
longer "floats" around on the screen without af-
fecting an underlying image. If this happens, you
can recover by choosing Undo from the Edit menu
(to undo the Paste command), holding down the
Shift key, and re-pasdng the picture.

5. Drag the small picture to an available space on the
Home card.

ADDING THE NEW STACK TO THE HOME CARD

173

Hint

Use the selection rectangle to check the alignment
of your picture with other pictures on the Home
card: Drag the selection rectangle horizontally
from an existing picture's baseline across to the
new pictures baseline to make sure they line up.
It's an aesthetic detail, but it can make a big differ-
ence in the overall effect of your HyperCard stacks.

Adding a
Button that
Goes to the
New Stack

Now your Home card has a picture that represents
your new stack, but you still need a button that takes
you there.

1. Click the Button tool in the Tools palette.

When you click the Button tool, HyperCard
shows you the existing buttons on the Home
card by ouriining them.

2. Holding down the Command key, drag diagonally
across the picture to create a new button as shown in
Figure 4.18.

This creates a button in the same spot you
pasted the picture of the new stack. Com-
mand-dragging with the Button tool is a
shortcut for creating a new button, just as
Command-dragging using the Field tool is a
shortcut for creating a field. You could also
choose New Button from the Objects menu,

174

CHAPTER 4 DESIGNING NEW STACKS

i File Edit Go Tools Objects

FIGURE 4-18 Creating a new button by Command-dragging across the miniature
picture.

which tells HyperCard to create a familiar-
looking button named New button. When
you create a new button by Command-drag-
ging, HyperCard creates a transparent, un-
named button in the size of the rectangle you
drag out. You can customize the button by
double-clicking it.

3. Double-click the new button.

The button dialog box appears. All you need
to set is where to link this button to. Com-
mand-dragging the button shape made it
transparent, and you don't need to name this
button or set it to autohilite when you press
it.

4. Click LinkTo.

HyperCard switches you to the Browse tool
so that you can easily move to the card you

PRINTING THE BILL 175

want to link the button to. And it presents the
button destination palette with three
choices — This card. This stack, and Cancel.
Don't click any of them yet.

5. Go to the first card in your new stack by pressing
the tilde key (or whatever key is at the top left corner
of your keyboard) or choosing Back from the Go
menu.

The destination window remains on the
screen, waiting for you to show it the button's
destination.

6. Click This Card in the destination window.

HyperCard switches you back to the Button
tool and returns you to the Home card. The
button you just hnked is still selected.

Now you can get to your new stack by using the
Browse tool to click its picture on the Home card.

7. Use the Browse tool to click the picture of your
client slack.

You can also get to your stack from anywhere in
HyperCard by choosing Open Stack from the Stack
menu and opening the stack, or by choosing the Mes-
sage box from the Go menu and typing, "Go to stack
My Clients" (the "to" is optional) and pressing the
Return or Enter key.

Printing the Bill

HyperCard gives you lots of printing choices. You
can print single cards by choosing Print Card from
the File menu. You can print entire stacks using the
Print Stack command. You can print cards full-size,

176

CHAPTER 4 DESIGNING NEW STACKS

half-si7x, or quarter-size. You can print to fit "mini-
binder" notebooks that are half the size of standard
8Vi by I 1-inch paper. You can print reports that in-
clude just the text on all the cards in the stack. Or, if
you have cards with more than one backgrotmd in
the same stack, you can print just the cards in the
current background. You can print only selected
fields in the current background or you can print la-
bels on special paper that has labels on it.

Here's how to print your client stack to send a
monthly statement to each of your clients:

1. Use the Browse tool to go to your client list if
you're not already there.

2. Choose Print Stack from the File menu.

The Print Stack dialog box appears. You can see this
dialog box in Figure 4.19.

Hint

Import Paint, Export Paint, and Quit HyperCard
are available when you're using the Paint tools, but
all other commands in the File menu are dimmed.
When you switch to any tool other than a Paint
tool, the Import and Export Paint commands dis-
appear from the menu.

If you want to send out 8 Vi by 1 1 -inch sheets, check
Print one card per page of paper. If you want to keep
the records in a "minibinder" that uses pages half that
size, click Print full size cards and Split-page format.
(Split-page format adds space in the gutter so that
you can separate the halves of the page to fit into a
binder.)

PRINTING THE BILL 177

Edit G(i Tui}ls Objects

Print Stack... t.opips:|i
□ Manual paper Teed
^ fast laser piintlng

si; ^

— 6 » «

Header; Q @| ©

Cancel

□ No space betnieen cards

OPrint one card per page
® Print full size cords
O Print tiBlf Size cards
OPrint quarter size cards

® Standard format
O Split-page format

FIGURE 4- 19 The Print Stack dkdag hax. Yon can print cards full, half, or

quarter size and you can :isf a format that fits a small notehiMik.

Before you choose a printing command, make sure
your printer is attached and switched on. Use the
Chooser desk accessory to select a printer if yoLiVc nn
a network.

3. Print labels by choosing Print Report from the File
menu.

You sec the dialog box shown in Figure 4.20. C^Iheck
the Labels check box and click "Name and Address"
to print just that field. Now you see why you put
phone numbers in a separate field — so you can print
your clients' names and addresses without the phone
numbers.

These settings are saved with the stack. Tlie next time
you choose Print Report while you're at your client
list, this dialog box will be preset to print labels with
the Name and Address field. Of course, you can

178

CHAPTER 4 DESIGNING NEW STACKS

[Edit i;d Tools Objects

Print report... Copies:
□ Manual paper feed

Dimensions:
®intties O cm

Hrrange fields in:
(S) Labels
O Columns

Etl \m

Print IbhI fieim from all cards:

O I" the entire stack

® lUilti tfie current background
ILiblcli fields:

□ Card fields

E Selected background fields:

Ndme dnd Rddrest

Phone Number
nale

Total Due

Bd.OZT? 1.D

D.Q

; Ti-EJ 0.11 11

FIGURE 4-20 The Print Report dialog box. You can print only the text of the
current bjckgroiind or entire stack.

change the setup whenever you want, but when you
choose Print Report it will be preset to the way you
set it last.

Summary

In this chapter you've seen how to design a stack
from the bottom up. You've copied a stack to serve
as a blueprint for your client stack, then copied a
background picture to further modify the new stack.
Getting information about stacks, cards, fields, and
buttons is easy, as you have learned to use the Objects
menu. With the click of a button, you can sort all the
cards in a stack, or view them quickly. YouVe learned
to delete buttons you don't really need, and moved
buttons around on the card. You've seen how easy it
is to add and link a new stack to the Home card.

SUMMARY 179

You've seen the differences between Paint text and
structured text. Finally, you saw how to print your
work.

You've seen how much you can do in HyperCard
without ever writing a single script. But editing and
writing new scripts gives you access to the most
power available in HyperCard — the power to control
exactly what happens when you click a button or go
to a card or take any othet action in HyperCard. The
next chapter introduces HyperTalk — the language
you use to write scripts.

PartTliree:
Scripting

Chapter 5

"The first installment
of Macirttosh appli-
cations made power
available; the second
ivill make informa-
tion accessible.
HyperCard provides
a tool and a standard
for this neiv class of
information. Now
there are information
consumers and infor-
mation creators, with
a gentle pathway
leading from one to
the other. "
Bill Atkinson

Gaining Power
with Scripts

en ihHuAfeUrh

»u^!^-af:l. jl 'ram fuld "Pnil Du<"
I < 'Putt Dua^ i

udd fiBitf "Pflffl. Ihj«" to iLflId ■Charg**-

put □ inlti fiBld -Pq«t [>i>a
■nd 1 1

iind "mEVu5«iJp" to fintkflrtn^nd bullon "Tnlol Dub'
■ntf ini]Lj<vl.to

Like the best of all Macintosh applications, HyperCard gradually un-
folds its power as you need it. In the beginning you see just four
menus — the Apple, File, and Edit menus and the Go menu, which you
use to navigate among cards and stacks.

184

CHAPTER 5 GAINING POWER WITH SCRIPTS

You start to customize stacks by adding your own
text to them. Next, you might check Painting on the
User Preferences card in the Home stack and start
drawing and copying pictures. After you've been
painting for a while, you'll go to the Author level,
copying buttons, linking them to new destinations,
creating new fields, and copying and modifying exist-
ing fields. And when you're ready to modify scripts,
you finally check Scripnng as a user level. Scripts con-
trol objects in HyperCard — buttons, cards, fields,
backgrounds, and entire stacks.

HyperTalk Scripts

Whenever you create a button, a field, a card, a back-
ground, or a stack, you're creating an object that can
have a script. You can think of the script as the ob-
ject's brain that tells it what to do. The language you
use to create and modify these scripts is called
HyperTalk. HyperTalk is built into HyperCard. Every
object used with HyperTalk — buttons, fields, cards,
backgrounds, and stacks — is an integral parr of
HyperC^ard itself. This makes the progression from
Browsing to Typing to Painting to Authoring and fi-
nally to Scripting a very natural one that's as easy as
clicking a new check box on the User Preferences
card.

By starting with simple commands such as "Co" (to
take you to a destination, just as LinkTo does), add-
ing visual and sound effects that can take place along
the way, and graciually adding other actions such as
playing sounds, sorting stacks, calculating formulas,
and much more, you can gradually learn to create
stacks that are really small applications themselves.

USING THE MESSAGE BOX 185

But you don't have to sit down and study intensively
or take a course in programming to get this power.

Using the Message Box

In Chapter 1, you learned how to use the Message
box to search for text. You choose Find from the Edit
menu. HyperC^ard displays the Message box and the
command Find "|" with an insertion point between
the quotes. You type the text you want to find, and
then you press the Return key. "Find" is a HyperTalk
command that's executed when you press the Return
key.

YouVe also used the Message box for more than find-
ing text. The Message box is a place where you can
communicate any message to HyperCard. For ex-
ample, "Go Home" is a message you type into the
Message box to have HyperCard take you to the first
card in the Home stack. Figure 5.1 shows an example
of using the message box to Go Home.

Asking What
Time or Date
It Is

Besides using the Message box to tell HyperCard to
find some text or to take you somewhere, you can
use it to ask HyperCard for information. For exam-
ple, you can type "the time" and press the Return key
to ask HyperCard what time it is.

Or you can ask for the date by typing "the date" and
pressing Return. HyperCard answers with the current
date (as long as your Alarm clock is set correcdy to

186

CHAPTER 5 GAINING POWER WITH SCRIPTS

FIGURE 5-1 Messafif box with "'Go Htmw" in it. t his card has no Home

button and it hides the menus. But you can always use the Message
box by typing Coinmand-M and "Cn Hiinie" or the name of anv
other stack ytni n'ant to go to.

the current date) — month, day of the month, and
year. You can get the date in its lon^ form — Friday,
June 19th, 1987, for example — by adding the modi-
fier "long" to get "the long date." HyperCard knows
about several wavs to keep track of and show the
date, the long date is one example. Figure 5.2 illus-
trates the long date in the Message box.

Hint

If there is currently any selection in the Message
box, anything you rv'pe will replace just the selec-
tion. Otherwise, typing replaces any text in the
Message box.

USING THE MESSAGE BOX 187

t file Edit Go Tonii Objecls

Ptior;*

as Home Card OS

Addrm Bosumenli FiV Indea Book 5^.u

WttHu Calendar Slid? Show HypsrCilc

"rt Idsji cliR Art Card IJ^i, Bultan Ideas Slick Ideas

Qdaldlinn^

U '■ ' 7gT;nr,nriq!i!j;ii!uiiiii,|||.|UnN.UL;;^i|. |j , i inl"- 'i'l - ;; !i^ l -|tti ! fl l' ti;+ i lT8l.il.fH!i«-M-,ri1ii! tm'^\rif

FnflBy, Jurs 1 9, 1 9B7

FIGURE 5-2 You can type "the date" into the Message box and press the Ratimi
key to have HyperCard tell you the current date. You can also ^ct
"the time."

Here are some other pieces of information you can
ask HyperCard for by typing in the Message box.

Asking Where
the Mouse Is

Typing "the mouseLoc" and pressing the Return key
tells you exacdy where the mouse is on the screen at
the moment you press the Return or Enter key. Try
moving the mouse to another place on the screen and
pressing the Return key again. The numbers that
HyperTalk gives you back are very useful in scripts
you write that move objects on the screen. You use
these numbers to tell HyperCard the position you
want the object moved to or clicked at.

188

CHAPTER 5 GAINING POWtR WITH SCRIPTS

Asking What
the Current
Tool Is

Typing "the tool" and pressing the Return key tells
you the name of the tool you're currently using. Al-
though you wouldn't need to do this to see which tool
you're using, (it would be just as easy to look at the
Tools window or the pointer], this shows how you
can inquire at any time about which is the current
tool. This can be very useful from within a script.

HifU

When does typing go into the Message box? if
there's an insertion point in a field when you open
the Message box, HyperCard leaves the insertion
point where it is so that what you type goes into
the field. If there's no insertion point in a field,
HyperCard assumes you want the typing to go into
the Message box, replacing anything that was
there. This is different from choosing Find, which
always places the insertion point in the Message
box.

Asking the
Name of
Objects

These messages are all functions: the date, the time,
the tool. Functions return values you can use within
scripts. You will learn more about functions later in
this chapter. You can also ask HyperTalk about prop-

USING THE MESSAGE BOX 189

Properties

Ob)ects have properties or charsctensUcs you can ask
for and set AsV. lor a property using "the .property."
Inside any expression ' Set a property using 'Set
■property."

• Global properties

• Window properties

• Stack, properties

• Painting properties

■ Background properties

■ Card properties

• Field properties

Using the Mcssuge box to ask the name of an object. Pressing the
Return key now will display the name of this stack— Help.

erties of various ob)ects. Properties are characteristics
such as a text's font and size and the name of the
object.

Try typing "the name" into the Message box.

Choose Message from the Go menu if the
Message box is not visible.

HyperCard returns the answer "HyperCard" because
you asked the question in the most general way pos-
sible. If you typed "the name of this stack" (as shown
in Figure 53) you would receive as an answer the
name of the current stack. (The answer would be
"stack 'Help"' in this example because this is one of
the cards in the Help system.) Likewise, if you typed
"the name of this background" you would get the

190

CHAPTER 5 GAINING POWER WITH SCRIPTS

would give you the name of the current card. (The
card shown in the example has no name so
HyperCard would use its pet name for any object —
its unique ID — and return the answer "card ID
14303".)

Hint

If you ask for an unnamed object, HyperCard re-
turns the unique ID of the object instead.

You can also find out the name of other objects by
including more information about the object in your
request. Here are some examples that show how you
can tell HyperCard which object you're referring to:

Type: the name of field 1

Press Return.
Type: the name of background button 1

Press Return.

This would give you first the name of the first
field and second the first background button
on the card youVe currently looking at. Unless
you tell HyperCard otherwise, it assumes
you're talking about the current card.

When you want to talk about an object that isn't on
the current card, you tell HyperCard where the object
is by adding modifiers to the object's description. For
example, you might type any of the following lines,
pressing the Return key each time to get the answer:

• the name of next card

■ the name of previous card

■ the name of first background button of
previous card

USING THE MESSAGE BOX

Edit Ga Tnnlt

Objettt

Script...

• Button propgrties

id;!.; i.-i!iJiiii:|ti!.i.;!a-;iii'; ai-iisriiTijiiiii i3ainH'.Hiilflia agEi!:ii-!;ji!liiirr:

tde name of this stack

Stack Name:

lUliere; HD Baclcu^;Help slacks
Stack (onlains 417 cards.
Statk contains 17 backgrounds
Size of Stack: 594 K
Free in Slack: 10 K

— crorcr-pr'jpm-
■ Field properties

FIGURE 5-4 There's another way to see a stack's name, phis more information
about it. Choosing Stack Info from the Objects menu dispUys
information about the current stack — the hielp stack, in this case.

You could also get most of rhis same inforiTiation
by using the Objects menu and choosing the object
you want to know about. Each command in the
top portion of the Objects menu presents a dialog
box that gives you information about the selected
button or field or the current card, background, or
stack. (You can't use the Objects menu to find out
about other objects— the previous card or the next
background, for example — without first going to
that card.)

Figure 5.4 shows a dialog box that describes the Help
stack. This is what you'll see if you choose Stack Info
while you're looking at any card withm the Help
stack.

192

CHAPTtR 5 GAINING POWER WIIH SCRIPTS

The Card Is
the Most
Basic Object

The card is the most basic element of HyperTalk. Any
references to objects always start with the current
card. Whenever you want to refer to an object that's
not a part of the current card, you need to include
more information for HyperCard to know what
youVe talking about. And whenever some acrion
takes place such as clicking the mouse or editing text,
HyperCard sends a message to the current card or to
an object on the card such as a button or a field. Then
it's up to the card to respond to that message or to
pass the message on somewhere else. This brings up
the subject of inheritance, which is an important
HyperCard topic. Before we get into inheritance as a
way of passing messages within the HyperCard
world, lets look at some other work you can do in
the Message box.

Calculating

Although HyperCard isn't a full-fledged spreadsheet,
you can use it for calculating formulas. For example,
the HyperCalc stack on the Home card is a great ex-
ample of a simple application that's very powerful at
calculadng formulas. You'll see the HyperCalc script
in Chapter 8, "Hooked on Scripts." Right now, take
a look at how you can use the Message box for sim-
ple calculation.

Type: 3 -«- 6 and press Return.

The result of the calculation appears in the
Message box.

USING THE MESSAGE BOX 193

Hint

Pressing Return or Enter tells HyperCard to per-
form whatever action is in the Message box —
either the Find command that is automatically in-
serted when you choose Find from the Edit menu
or any other command or function (such as the
date or the time) you type in or the result of a cal-
culation you ask it to perform.

You can type in any calculation you want HyperCard
to perform. For example:

7" 2
4/3

.0006 * 57
25483625-182635

HyperCard gives you an answer each time you press
Return.

Below are some other examples of messages you can
send to HyperCard by typing them into the Message
box:

• DoMenu "New Card"

• Put "Hello" into Message box

The number of cards (this tells you the

total number in this stack)

The number of this card (this tells you

the sequential numbt'r of the current

card)

• The number uf fields (this tells you the
total number of fields on this card)

• Choose Button tool

194

CHAPTER S GAINING POWER WITH SCRIPTS

HyperTalk commands are separate from the com-
mands you see in menus. In fact, all of the menu
commands can be carried out by just one
HyperTalk command — DoMenu — followed by the
command name, such as "New Card" above.
Within HyperTalk, the word "command" refers to
the HyperTalk commands rather than to the com-
mands you see in menus. The Find command
straddles both worlds. It's a HyperTalk command
that also appears in a menu.

Training Buttons to Issue
Commands for You

You could use the Message box to type a HyperTalk
command whenever you wanted HyperCard to do
something or you wanted some information, but
HyperCard also provides a way to string together
more than one command and store them in a "script"
of commands.

Any object—a button, a field, a card, a background,
or a stack — can have a script. Let's look at one of
these scripts.

You've seen how you could have HyperCard take
you Home by typing "Go Home" in the Message box
and pressing the Return key. But you can teach a but-
ton to do the same thing by putnng the command in
the button's script. Putting that command into a but-
ton's script tells HyperCard to carry out that com-

TRAINING BUTTONS TO ISSUE COMMANDS FOR YOU

195

mand whenever you click that button — without your
having to type the command into the Message box
each time you want it to happen.

1. Go to your Client list by typing in the Message
box: Go to my clients.

Wlien HyperCard sees the word "Go," it
checks for the keyword "stack" or "card" fol-
lowing it. If it finds neither of those keywords,
it assumes that the next word or words are the
stack name— "My clients" in this case.

Hint

The word "to" is oprional in "Go to my clients."
Also, you don't usually need to put quotation
marks around the name of a stack.

Sometimes there can be ambiguity about how
HyperCard should interpret informadon. For exam-
ple, if you said "go card ideas" HyperCard would
look within the current stack for a card named
"ideas." It has no way of knowing that "Card Ideas"
is the name of a stack unless you tell it so by enclosing
the name in quotes. But in general you don'r need to
include quotes around stack names. You don't have
to match uppercase and lowercase characters, cither.
For the most part, case doesn't matter to HyperCard.

2. Press the Return key.

HyperCard takes you to the first card in your
client stack.

196

CHAPTKR 5 GAINING POWER WITH SCRIPTS

If HyperCard can't find the stack when looking at
the disk level or in the HyperCard Stacks folder or
any other folder named, it presents the standard file
dialog box. When you open a stack from this
dialog hox, HyperCard adds its pathname to the
list of places to look for stacks. The next time you
ask for the stack, HyperCard will know where to
look and won't ask you again unless you move the
stack somewhere else.

3. Choose the Button tool.

Tear off the Tools window and click on the
Button tool. Nonce that all the buttons on the
card are outlined. (Close the Message box if
necessary.)

4. Select the Home button by clicking it.

If you were using the Browse tool, clicking the
Home button would take you Home. But
when you're using the Button tool, clicking
the button selects it so that you can cut or
copy it, move it, or find out more information
about it.

5. Choose Button Info from the Objects menu.

Figure 5.5 shove's you the dialog box that appears,
with lots of information about this button.

Hint

Double-clicking a button using the Button tool is a
shortcut for seeing its Button Info dialog box.

TRAINING BUTTONS TO ISSUE COMMANDS FOR YOU

197

* FMe Edit Go TodFs I

Objpcti

HousekeE

632^
Columbia
4

555-

Button Name:

Bkgnd button number; 4
Bkgnd tjutton ID: 5b

□ Shouj name

□ Huto hilile

linkTo...

Script.,.

Style:

O Iransparenl
O opaque
O rectangle
(g) shadow
O round reel
O dieck boK
O radio Sutton

Cancel

go to my clients

FIGURE 5-5

Ynii can f^et information about any button hy selecting the button
with the Button tool and choosing Button Info from the Objects
menu. This is Button Info far the Home button in the My Clients
stack.

The Button
Dialog Box

You've seen this dialog box before, in Chapters 2 and
3. There are places for:

• The button's name

Its number within the current card or
background (the dialog box tells you
whether this is a card or a background
bu tton)

Its unique ID number within the stack
(arbitrarily assigned at creation to make
It impossible to confuse this button with
any other)

198

CHAPTER 5 I GAINING POWER WITH SCRIPTS

• A checkbox for whether or not to dis-
play the button's name

• A checkbox for whether or not to high-
light the button when it's pressed with
the Browse tool

• An Icon button you can cUck to select an
icon to be displayed with the button

A LinkTo button to have HyperCard fill
m the script with a Go command and a
destination

A round "radio" button you can click to
select a button style

• A button to click to edit the button's
script

Hint

The Script button is dimmed unless youVe checked
"Scripting" on the User Preferences card in the
Home stack. Get to the User Preferences card
quickly by going Home and pressing the left arrow
key. (It's the last card in the Home stack.) Chck
"Scripting" to be able to edit scripts. Click "Blind
typing" to be able to type commands without first
displaying the Message box.

Clicking the icon button presents a scrolling list of
available icons. Any icon currently being used for the
selected button is highlighted; clicking any other icon
in the list selects and highlights it. Icons are available
if their resource is in the current stack or in
HyperCard itself. You can use a resource editor such
as ResEdit to add or edit resources for icons. See Ap-

TRAINING BUTTONS TO ISSUE COMMANDS FOR YOU

199

FIGURE 5-6 'The script for the Home button. You can see and edit scripts

whenever your user level is set to Scripting on the Preferences card,
in the Home stack.

pendix 3 for how to use Andy Hertzfeld's mini-ser-
vant program to work with HyperCard resources.
6. Click Script to see the Home button's script.

The Home button's script (shown in Figure 5.6) says:

on mouseUp

visual effect Iris close

go "Home"
end mouseup

There's an insertion point at the beginning of the
script, where you couid add more actions to the
script.

200 CHAPTER 5 GAINING POWER WITH SCRIPTS

Message
Handlers:
Who Has
Control ?

"on mouseUp" and "end mouseUp" mark the begin-
ning and the end of a control structure, a structure
that HyperCard uses to determine who's in control at
the moment. This particular control structure — called
a message handler — contains instructions for what
HyperCard should do when this button receives the
"mouseUp" message. Message handlers are the most
important control structures in HyperCard. The but-
ton receives the mouseUp message whenever the
mouse button is released while the pointer is over this
button. In other words, whenever you click this but-
ton, here's what HyperCard should do.

Message handlers divide the script up into manage-
able chunks — one chunk for each how-to-handle
message. Within the message handler are the com-
mands you want HyperCard to carry out when the
current object receives the message.

Between the "on mouseUp" and "end mouseUp" lines
are the lines:

visual effect iris close
Go Horae

The first line is a message — actually a command
called "visual effect"— to HyperCard telling it to use
one of the available visual effects as it takes you to
the Home card. The visual effect command is really
the one-word command "visual." "Effect" is a helper
word that makes the meaning of the "visual" com-
mand clearer.

TRAINING BU I TONS TO ISSUE COMMANDS FOR YOU

201

Him

A message handier is a particular kind ot control
structure that tells HyperCard what to do when a
certain message is received by the current object.

Hint

The unusual capitalization is just a convention in
HyperTalk, not a rule. The uppercase "U" sepa-
rates the word "mouseUp" without usmg any
blank spaces. (Certain elements in HyperCard such
as commands need to be one word for HyperTalk
to he able to interpret chcm correctly.)

Hint

There are many visual effects you can use with the
Go command. (See Appendix 2 for a list of the
visual effects you can choose.) "iris close" zooms
in to the center of the screen.

The second line of the script contains another mes-
sage. It's the same message you might have typed into
the Message box — Go Home.

Instead of being performed when you press the Re-
turn key (as it would be if you typed it into the Mes-
sage box), this entire script is performed when you
click the mouse button with the pointer positioned
over the button. The button receives the message that
the mouse button has been clicked, and this button is
"trained" to use the visual effect of irising closed and
to take you Home whenever it receives the mouseUp
message.

CHAPTER 5 [ GAINING POWER WITH SCRIPTS

7. close the button's script by clicking the Cancel
button.

Hint

Get into the liabit of clicking Cancel rather than
OK when you don't want to record changes to a
script. Clicking OK can sometimes OK changes
you may not be aware of— a character you may
have typed, for example.

Naming Objects

HyperCard uses names so that you can specify ob-
jects for commands to operate on. You can name
stacks, cards, or containers to place things in. A con-
tainer is anything that can hold a value. One example
of a container is the Message box. For example, 'Tut
hello into Message box" specifies the container (the
Message box) you want to put something ("hello")
into.

Fields are another type of container. For example,

you could type:

put "hello" into field 1

In this case "hello" would be placed in field 1 whether
or not the Helds were visible. Until you take that value
out of the field by deledng the word or replacing it
with something else or by deleting the field itself, the
field contains "hello."

NAMING HIERARCHIES 203

Naming Hierarchies

You've seen how you can get the name of an object
from HyperCard. Every object has a naming hier-
archy that starts from its smallest subdivision and can
be expanded to include increasing amounts of infor-
mation. It's like your mailing address, with detailed
parts and broad parts. If you live in the USA and are
sending a letter to someone who also lives in the USA,
you don't need to include "USA" in the address. In
the address of someone who lives in another state,
you do need to include that state's name to show that
it's not the same state you are in. The address can get
increasingly detailed — down to the apartment num-
ber if necessary — to differentiate this address from
any other. You just include as much detail as you
need to make the differentiation.

In HyperTalk, apartment numbers, street addresses,
cities, zip codes, and countries look like;

character 1 of word 5 of line 5 of field 3 of card BestFriend of stack
Ily Stacks; Address

But if you were already in the Address stack in the
folder named "MyStacks" you could just refer to:

character 1 of word B of line 5 of field 3 of
card ^

background button b of card S

And if you were on card 12 of stack Help you could
refer to:

background button b

Whenever you refer to any named object — a button.

204 CHAPTER 5 I GAINING POWER WITH SCRIPTS

a field or part of a field, a card, a background, or a
stack— include as much of the hierarchy of names as
you need but no more. If you say to go to a stack,
HyperCard will take you to the first card of that
stack. If you want to go to another card in that stack,
you can specify the second (or third, or last, etc.) card
of the stack, hor example, you could say, "'Go to third
card of stack "MyClicnts."

You don't have to use a name to designate an object.
You can use its place within the card or the back-
ground or the stack to designate it. For example, you
can designate card 1, first card, next card, or back-
ground button 3. These references aren't to a specific
card but to any card or button that fits that descrip-
tion at the time the script is performed. You can also
refer to cards by the unique ID they're assigned when
they're created, or by any name you give them.

Hint

In general, weigh the extra work of naming objects
against the amount of clarit\- it provides in reading
scripts that use the name. Sometimes it's not worth
the extra time it takes to name an object; its ID or
numbered position are all you need. But sometimes
using a name makes a script that refers to the ob-
ject much clearer.

Absolute vs. Logical
References

Look at the LinkTo Destination wmdow shown in
Figure 5.7 to see examples of using an absolute ref-

ABSOLUTE VS. LOGICAL REFERENCES 205

* File Edit Go lools DbJ^cts

House keep

1632 Ah
Columbus
431)

Go to deilinatlon, then aiiti link at:

This Card ] [ Thli Stack ) | Cancel

555-7853

Past Due 40.00
Charges 40 00
TolalDue 80 00

:i'KI!!^l!!!!lnlllj!l!ilrl!rlMdliiMi*liilii!il!!i]li!lilj!T!*!li!iiv!:|l!!^ll^^li;i'lia^

FIGURE 5—7 The Destination windoiv appears whenever you click Link To on a
Button Info dialog hnx. While the window is visible you use the
Browse tool to go to the destination you want for the current
button. Yoit can link the button to either a specific cdrd — the card
you're at when you click This Card — ur the first card in the stack
you're at when you click "This Stack."

erence to a specific card and a logical reference. The
choices in this window Hnk you to cither a specific
card (absolute reference) or to a card determined bv
the current state of a stack (logical reference). You
can see this Destination window by selecting any but-
ton using the Button tool, choosing Button Info from
the Objects menu, and clicking LinkTo.

When you link a button to a specific card (This Card),
you want HyperCard to take you directly to that
card, regardless of where it is located in the stack.
Therefore, your link destination is an absolute (un-
changing) reference: the card ID number or unique
name. Alternatively, if you want to link the button to
the first card in a stack, you know that any given card

206

CHAPTER 5 GAINING POWER WITH SCRIPTS

may change position in the stack. That's all right—
because you really just want the stack, you use a log-
ical reference (This Stack). HyperCard will link the
button to the first card in the stack, but it may not
always be the same card.

Identification numbers

ID numbers arc unfriendly-looking numbers (they
tend to be large and unmemorable) that HyperCard
assigns to an object when it's created. ID numbers are
always unique within that stack, although another
stack may use the same number to identify another
object.

IDs are absolute references. Absolute references have
some of the same advantages post-office boxes have.
Cards, like people, tend to move around. So "last"
card may identify a certain card today, but by tomor-
row there may be another "last" card. Using a card
ID (or any other unique name) is like having a P.O.
box instead of a street address. Even if you move,
your mail will get to you. The ID number will always
locate a parricular card or button or field, regardless
of its changing location within the stack.

When you copy a card or other object using the Copy
command, it receives a new ID. But when you copy
a stack in the Finder or with the Save a Copy com-
mand in the File menu, the objects in the stack that
were copied are idendcal to the originals, including
their ID numbers.

Sure IDs are ugly, hard-to-remember numbers, but
you don't have to remember them or type them
(LinkTo does it for you), and they ensure absolute
idenrification of an object, no matter whether you

LOOKING AT A SCRIPT HYPERCARD WROTE FOR YOU 207

move it or change its name or position within the
card or background or stack. If vou find yourself typ-
ing in ID numbers, youVe probably doing something
wrong. Name the card or other object and refer to it
by name instead of referring to it by its ID.

Hint

Carefully use the words "char," "word," 'line,"
"field," "card," "background," and "stack" to avoid
confusion. For example, never name a card "but-
ton 3." "Go to card button 3" would confuse both
you and HyperCard.

Looking at a Script
HyperCard Wrote for
You

YouVe already seen how to link a button to a card:
select a button, choose Button hifo (or double-click
the button), click LinkTo, go to the card you want to
link the button to, and then click "This card."

When you click LinkTo and then designate a desti-
nanon card, HyperCard automatically adds a line to
the buttons script that specifies the card by ID num-
ber. You don't have to know the ID number or write
the script; HyperCard does it for you.

This is what happened when you used linkTo to link
a button to your client list. Look at that button again.

1. Go Home by pressing Command-H,
Or just click the Home button.

208

CHAPTER 5 GAINING POWER WITH SCRIPTS

2. Use the Button tool to double-click the button that
goes to your client list.

Doiible-tiicking takes you to the dialog box
for that button.

3. When you see the button dialog box, click Script.

Figure 5.8 shows the script for that button.
There's the "on mouseUp" and ''end
mouseUp" control structure. Between these
two Hnes, HyperCard has inserted what to do
when you click this button^ — Go to card ID
3342 of stack "My Chents."

4. Click cancel to close the script.

Hint

Whenever you're referring to a specific card, you
have choices for ways to refer to it. If the card has
a name, you can use that, or you can refer to it by
location in the stack — last card, card 1, etc. When
HyperCard fills in the script for you, it will still
refer to the card by its unique ID number.

Hint

In this case you could also click the OK button.
The OK button accepts the script as it is, including
any changes youVe made to it. The Cancel button
ignores any changes.

When you use LinkTo to aim a button, HyperCard
automatically writes that button's script to direct it to
the place you choose. But you yourself can edit any
button's script directly by using the Button tool to

MODIFYING EXISTING SCRIPTS

lari nirju«eUp

go lo card id 3342 af »lack "My Cl isnts"
cnd riDij»Up

Find

[Cancel]

FIGURE 5-8 The scrip! HyperCard writes when yori'iv linki-d ,i biiium In a

specific card using LifikTo. The ID is a unique number e,ich card
has within its stack.

open it and edit its text yourself. With I.inkTo,
HyperCard is saving you time in typing commands
into the script, and it's making it possible for yon to
be a HyperCard author without being a HyperCard
programmer. For example, you can put together a
working stack without writing a single script — just by
copying cards, pictures, fields, and buttons and by us-
mg LmkTo. But sooner or later, you're going to want
to write a script of your own.

Modifying Existing
Scripts

Things rarely are static in HyperCard. It's so easy to
change the way somethmg works that you find your-

210

CHAPTER 5 I GAINING POWER WITH SCRIPTS

self tweaking scripts here and there to make them do
something a little different. Once you know a few
basic commands, you can radically change (for better
or worse) what happens when a script is carried
out — ^that is, when a button is clicked or a card dis-
played, or whatever event triggers the script being
executed.

A Script That
Sorts Cards

Your client stack has a Sort button that automatically
sorts the cards by first or last name. You copied this
Sort button from the original Address stack in an ex-
ercise in Chapter 4. Let's look at the Sort script.

1. Go to the Address stack by choosing Message from
the Edit menu and typing "Go Address" and pressing
the Return key.

Or get there by clicking the Address card pic-
ture on the Home card or using the Open
Stack command.

The Sort button is the one that shows a hand repo-
sitioning cards in the stack. Clicking the Sort button
on this card presents a dialog box that lets you choose
whether to sort the cards by first or last name. You
can see this dialog box in Figure 5.9.

2. Use the Button tool to double-click the Sort
button.

Clicking the bunon with the Browse tool re-
sorts the cards, but clicking it with the Button
tool lets you get informanon about the but-
ton, change its name or style, or edit its script.

MODIFYING EXISTING SCRIPTS 211

i File Edil Go Taol^ Dbjects

'.•iS

This is the first card of the Address stack

Sort all cards of this stack according In;

First Name

Last Name

Csnci^l

1/ ;?/R7

FIGURE 5-9 The Sort button in the Address stack presents this dialog box. You
can edit the script la have the dialog box present other choices.

Hint

Looking at existing scripts is a good way to learn
the structure and logic of HyperCard scripts.

3. Click Script to see the script for this button.
The script says:

on MouseOp

answer " Sort all cards of this stack according to ~\
with "First Namei' or "Last Name" or "Cancel"
if it is "First Name"

then sort by first word of first line of field "Name and Address"
else if it Is "Last Name"

then sort by last word of first line of field "Name and fiddress"
end mouseUp

212

CHAPTER 5 GAINING POWER WI I H SCRIPTS

Hint

To HyperCard, a line is simply a piece of text that
is separated by Return characters. To have text
wrap without using the Return character (without
starting an official new line), press Option-Return.

Let's go through the Message handler line by line.

If . . . Then
. . . Else
Control
Structure

This script has a new command — answer — and a
new control structure — the if-then-else control struc-
ture — besides the "on mouseUp/end mouseUp" mes-
sage handler you've seen before. ■ ■ -

The Answer command will present the user with a
dialog box with three possible answers: First Name,
Last Name, or Date. You specify what should appear
in the dialog box by enclosing the text you want in
quotation marks. You use the word "with" to precede
what you want to appear in the buttons below the
specified text. In this example, the three buttons con-
tain "First Name," "Last Name," and "Cancel." The
word "or" separates the possibilities.

If the user clicks the first choice (if it is "First Name")
HyperCard passes the control to the line:

then sort by first wordof first line of
field "Name and address"

MODlhYlNG EXISTING SCRIPTS 213

Notice that the script specifies "first word of first line
of field 'Name and Address.'" It goes into no more
detail than word because that's the smallest unit it
cares about, and it goes no larger than the named
field because it assumes that the field is on the current
card. It could have inchided "character 3 of first
word" if you wanted to sort by that character. "Name
and Address" is the name of the field. You could see
this by using the Field tool to select the Name and
Address field and choosing Button Info from the Ob-
jects menu.

The "if-then*else" control structure performs one of
several actions depending on the answer to the ques-
tion in the dialog box. If the user clicks the "First
Name" choice in the dialog box, HyperCard sorts by
the first word of the first line of the Name and Ad-
dress field.

Similarly, if the user clicks the "Last Name" choice in
the dialog box, HyperCard sorts by the last word of
the first hne of field "Name and Address."

Note that this script assumes you've ordered names
on the card first name first and last name last. If you
use a different order — last name first, for example —
exchange the two "then" statements.

If the user presses the Cancel button, the dialog box
goes away and the action is cancelled, because neither
of the "if" statements apply. We could have caught
this possibility and done something different with it
by including an it statement for the Cancel button
such as:

if it is Cancel then show card field 3

or any other action we want to have happen when
Cancel is clicked.

214

CHAPTFR 5 GAINING POWER WITH SCRIPTS

Editing the
Script to Sort
by Date

Maybe sorting your clients by first or last name isn't
enough for you. Let's say you always enter your
clients first name first but you always want them
sorted by last name to make a printed list alpha-
betized by last name. You don't really need the first
name choice when you chck the Sort button but you
would like the ability to son the list by the last date
they were modified. You're already keeping track of
the date that card was last modified in the Date field,
which is updated whenever you modify any infor-
mation on the card. (You can see this script by click-
ing Cancel to close the Sort button's script, choosing
Background Info from the Objects menu, and click-
ing Script.} The script is in the background so that
every card that shares this background (every one of
your client cards) will have the date field updated
whenever any field in the card is changed.

You can also use this date field to sort your cards by
date. Here's how:

1. Use the button tool to double-click the Sort button
in your client list if you're not already there.

First go to your dierit list if necessary,

2. Click Script to open the script if you're not already
looking at it.

Figure 5, 10 shows this button's script with the words
"Last Name" and surrounding quotation marks se-
lected. Figure 5.11 shows the script the way it will
look when you're finished editing it.

MODIFYING EXISTING SCRIPTS 215

File Edit Co ToQii Olijects

Script of bl^gnd l)utton id 39

answsr ■'Soi-t all cordiDftMsi tack oceording lo ■ " ^
lullh "First Ham*" op |||nBai^Q| or "Cuncei"
(f it li -First Norat- j

thin iorl (Irsl urord of fin* line of fi«ld ■Nana anil BBdrsss"
uist if It \s ■Lost Namfl"

lh»n sort bij lost *orcl of flnt Mm of fl»10 "Main and Pddress"
end mouseup

Find

Cancpl

FIGURE 5-10 The script for the Sort button. You can edit scripts by using the
standard editing techniques, including cutting and pasting.

* File Edit Co Toois Dl)|ects

Script of likgnd butlon id 39

on mousftUp

ansmar "Sort all cards of thi* slock accnrdtng to " ->
uii th '"Last rHarra" or "Date" or "Cancil"
If It is '"Lost Maine"

th^n sort by last luord of first I in* of field "Mane and Address"
e I se If It IS "Dote"

then sort descending dotaTime by field "data"
end mouseUp

Find Print

OK Cancel

FIGURE 5-11 The edited script for the Sort button

216

CHAPTER 5 GAINING POWER WI I H SCRIPTS

3. Select the words "Last Name," including the quo-
tation marks, in the second line of the script and press
Command-X.

This cuts the word and places it on the Clip-
board, leaving the insertion point in its place.

4. Type "Date."

"Date" appears in place of ''Last Name."

5. Select the words "First Name" in the same line and
press Command-V.

The words "Last Name" are pasted in place
of "First Name." The line now reads: with
"Last Name" or "Date" or "Cancel."

Hmt

You cut and paste in and among scripts using the
Command-key equivalents rather than choosing
commands from the Edit menu. The HyperCard
menus aren't available while youVe editing a script.

You switched "Last Name" to the first position be-
cause it's probably the way youll sort most , often
with this stack. And you added a new oprion, to sort
by date. Now fix the rest of the script to do what you
want it to do,

6. Select the word "First" in the line "if it is First
Name" and type "Last."

7. Move the line "then sort by last word of first line
of field "Name and Address" by selecting it, pressing
Command-X to cut, clicking before the "then" in the
line "then sort by last word of first line of field 'Name
and Address,'" and pressing Command-V to paste.

MODIFYING EXISTING SCRIPTS 217

Hiflt

If you accidently formed two lines together, sepa-
rate them by pressing the Return key to move the
insertion point to the next Hne.

8. Remove the next line — "then sort by first word of
first line of field 'Name and Address'" — by selecting
it and pressing the Backspace key.

You don't need this line anymore because
you've removed the choice of sorting by first
name.

9. Backspace again until there aren't any empty lines.

Empty Unes don't hurt anything, but your
scripts look neater without them.

10. Select "Last Name" in the line "else if it is 'Last
Name'" and type "Date."

Now you need to tell HyperCard what to do
if "it" equals "Date." "It" will have the value
"Date" if the user clicks the Date button in the
dialog box. HyperCard places either "Last
Name" or "Date" into "it," depending on
which button you click.

11. Click in the next line and type: then sort descend-
ing DateTime by field "Date"

HyperCard will sort the cards in descending order by
their modificarion date so that the most recendy mod-
ified cards will come first. To make the most recendy
modified cards come last in the stack you can use the
word "ascending" to reverse the order.

DateTime is another modifier for the Sort command.
It specifies the format used by the date field. Using
the regular numerical order would cause the number

218

CHAPTER 5 GAINING POWER WITH SCRIPTS

1/12/87 to come before the number 1/7/87 because it
comes first "alphabetically." There are other formats
for sorting as well. See the Sort command description
in Appendix 2.

Pressing the Tab key and then looking at the last
line of a message handler can tell you whether
you've made a mistake, such as leaving out an
"end" line. Each message handler should be bal-
anced by an "on . . ." statement and an "end" state-
ment. HyperCard tries to balance the script for you
when you press the Tib key. If it can't, you'll notice
that the last line of the handler doesn't line up at
the left margin the way the first line does. This is
your clue to go back and check for missing lines or
typos.

12. Click OK or press ihe Enter key.

You want to save this modified script, so click
OK instead of Cancel.

Hint

Pressing the Enter key is a shortcut for clicking OK
when you're editing a script. It saves any changes
you've made to the script.

13. Use the Browse tool to click the Sort button in
your Client stack.

The dialog box that appears has the new
choices— Last Name, Date, and Cancel, as
shown in Figure 5.12.

THE OBJECTS MENU 219

<i File Edit Go Tnolt DbJecU

I J . I y CaclyHaskin
ty Liz I 2763 Drofnats Ct,

Houseker

1632 .
Columb

555-

Sort Bll cards of this stack According to:
[ LasI Name~] [ I j ate ~] [[ Cancel^

(415)555-5475

Past Due 40 00
Charges 40 00
Total Due 80 00

FIGUKE 5- 12 T/je nett' (iiu/og box for the Sort button. Choices for sorting now
included by Date.

Hint

Be sure to switch back to the Browse tool instead
of the Button tool before you click the Sort button.
Otherwise, you'll see the Button Info dialog box if
you double-click, or a selected bunon if you single-
click the button.

14. Click Date.

Yout cards are sorted hy modification date-
most recently changed cards first.

The Objects Menu

YouVe already used the Objects menu to get infor-
mation about buttons. The Objects menu also has in-

220

CHAPTER 5 GAINING POWER WITH SCRIPTS

formation about other objects in HyperCard — fields,
cards, backgrounds, and stacks. Each of these objects
in HyperCard can have scripts. Each can handle a
message sent by the system — a mouse click or a field
change, tor example.

Hint

The Objects menu is visible only when the User
Preferences card is set to Authoring or Scripting.

Any Object
Can Have a
Script

Each object in the Objects menu can have a script
that responds to various condidons, just as the but-
ton "s script responded to the mouse click. Scripts can
be triggered by any one of many messages the system
sends in response to events. The script that updates
the Date field in the Client stack is triggered by any
modification to any field in the current background,

This script lives in the Background shared by all the
cards in your Client list. You copied the Background
from another Address stack, so the script in that
Background was copied as well.

Where to Put
a Script

In the case of the Sort button, you don't want any-
thing to happen unless you click the Sort button using
the Browse tool. If you click anywhere else on the

THE OBJECTS MENU 22 1

card— to change some text or to go Home or dial a
phone number— you don't want the script that sorts
to be performed.

Placing the message handler in the script of the Sort
button confines it to events associated only with that
button — clicking the mouse button or entering or de-
leting the button, for example. Similarly, placmg the
message handler in the script for a field confines it to
events associated only with that field. For example,
the closeField message is sent to a field when text
within the field has changed.

To have more objects respond to the same message,
you could duplicate the script for every object— but-
ton or field— that you want to respond to the mes-
sage. Or you could put in the handler at a broader
level— the card, the background, or the stack. Ob-
viously, it's simpler to place the message handler in
once, rather than many times. You need to think
about whether this handler will work for every object
that will inherit it.

If you put the Son script in at the card level, the cards
would sort whenever you clicked anywhere on the
card. If it were in the background's script, it would
sort with a dick on any card that shares this back-
ground. If the message handler were at the stack level,
any click anywhere in the stack would re-sort the
cards.

More generality is sometimes what you're looking
for. If a friend's phone number changes and you up-
date it in your Address stack, vou'd like HyperCard
to update the Date field. You could put a message
handler into the phone number field that would han-
dle the mouse click by updating the date field. But
you'd also like this to happen if you change the name

222

CHAPTER 5 GAINING POWER WI I H SCRIPTS

Put the Message Handler at the level in the object
hierarchy— burton, field, card, background,
stack — that will be caught by all of the objects-
hut no more — that you want to respond to the
message. If you want to respond when a button is
clicked, put the Message Handler in the button's
script. If you want to respond when something
happens anywhere on the card, put the Message
Handler in the cards script. If an action anywhere
on any card that shares the background should
elicit the response, put the script in the back-
ground, and if anywhere in the stack put the script
in the stack.

and address field. You could duplicate the message
handler in the second field, but by putting it in the
background you can update the card whenever there's
any change within any field that shares the current
background. You're getting double your money for
one scripr.

Before a closeField message goes to the background,
the card has a chance at handling it. But putting the
message handler in the card would limit updating to
the single card that has the message handler. Instead,
the script belongs to the background:

1. Choose Bkgnd Info from the Objects menu.

Go to your Clients stack if you're not already there,

2. Click Script to see this background's script.

You may have looked at this script earlier in the chap-
ter. The background has the script:

THE OBJECTS MENU 223

on CloseField

put the date into field I'date"
end closeFleld

There's also another handler in this script that puts
the insertion point in the first field whenever you
make a new card. Ignore this handler for now.

When any field is closed (changes are made to it), put
(put is the command — it moves information from one
place to another) the date (just as if you had typed
this into the Message box) into field "date." The re-
sult: the current date is displayed in the Date field.

3. Click Cancel to close the script.

You didn't change anything, so there's nothing
to OK.

4. Change any information on a card by selecting text
and typing to replace it.

5. Click outside the field and watch the date on the
card change to the current date.

Because you changed information on a field within
this background, the closeField message was sent first
to the field, then to the card, and finally to the back-
ground, which had a message handler to handle it.
The current date was placed in the Date Held.

Messages the
System Sends

You've seen the "mouseUp" message that's sent when
you click with the mouse. HyperCard also sends
other messages when events happen. For example,
the "closeField" message is sent whenever a field's
contents change — when you update a friend's ad-

224

CHAPTER 5 GAINING POWER WITH SCRIPTS

dress, for example. (Strictly speaking, the message is
sent when you cliuk outside the field and the infor-
mation in the field is different from what was there
when you clicked inside the field.)

Just as the button received the message that a click
had taken place and had the chance to respond with
a message handler, so does the field you edited have
the chance to respond to the message that the field
has changed.

If the fields have no message handlers f<3r this message
(none do in this background), the message is handed
off to the next larger object — the card — which in this
case also gives up its chance to respond. But the Back-
ground does have a response:

Put the date into field "Date"

"The date" is a funcrion that HyperCard can always
get by reading the System clock and finding out what
time it is, just as the Alarm Clock desk accessory
does. It puts that current date into the field named
"Date" and your friends address card has a new
modification date.

"Date" is in quotes because names of things that
you (rather than HyperCard) assign are often en-
closed in quotes as a safeguard against their ever
being confused with something HyperCard might
call by the same name. A word like "date" is es-
pecially suspect because "the date" is a funcdon.
Also remember, you don't have to use uppercase
letters except as a convention for indicating sepa-
ration in compound words.

THE OBJECTS MENU 225

^^5ii^liii4i .iTib ii .ii 'i b i* i» .ii .i li

Messages the system sends initially

The receiving ob|ect has the first chance to respond to
the message before it goes on to the next larger object
See Inheritance *

to a button newButton, deleteButton

mouseDown, mouse rtillDown, mouseUp
mouseEnter, mouseWitlun, mouseLeave

to a lielcj nev;Field, deietepield

-13 Stmw of the messages the sysle?n sends Initially. The receiving
object has the first chance tn respond to the message with a
message handier such as "on iiiniiseUp.'

Besides mouseUp and closeField, HyperCard sends
many other messages in response to events that hap-
pen. See Chapter 8 for a complete list of the messages
HyperCard sends, the objects that receive them, and
the events that trigger the message. Figure 5.13 shows
the messages that are sent to buttons and fields.

Putting a
Message
Handler
Lower in the
Hierarchy

Sometimes you want to limit rather than expand a
response so that a smaller set of actions will cause the

226

CHAPTER 5 GAINING I'OWER WITH SCRIPTS

control structure to be carried out. Maybe you don't
care when a phone number changed, but only when
something in the Name and Address field was modi-
fied. If you put the update script in the Name and
Address field rather than in the background, the Date
field will be updated only when the Name and Ad-
dress field changes.

Here is the script:

on closeField

put the date into field " date"
end closeField

Going to Another Stack
Within a Script

HyperCard never leaves the current stack unless you
tell it to. To get to cards in other stacks you use the
Go command. (You can also use the Pop card com-
mand to go to another card. See Chapter 8 for how
to use the Pop card command to return to cards
you've put in a pile to remember using the Push card
command.) So if you wanted a button to sort a field
that wasn't in the current stack you'd say:

Go stack Rddress — or any stack name, or go to card 3 of

— stack Rddress Clients
sort by first word of first line of field "Name and fiddress'i

Summary

You can do a lot with the commands Go and Sorr
and with the message handler on mouseUp and end

f HE OBJECTS MENU 227

mouseUp, especially combined with the If . . . then
. . . else control strucuire. The next chapter tells you
how to use some other commands to add sortie more
power and flexibility to your client stack.

Chapter 6

"/ think of the
library as the
research laboratory
of the humanities. "

Charles Kerns,
Stanford University

Expanding a

Stack's Capabilities

As you begin to use the stacks that come with HyperCard and stacks
you build yourself, you'll probably want to expand some of the stacks'
capabilities. For example, if you create a stack to keep track of your
clients and how much they owe you (as shown in Chapter 4), you'll

MAKING THE CLIENT STACK MORE POWERFUL

229

now have a customized Address stack you can also
use as a bill to send to your clients. But as your busi-
ness expands, and as you start becoming more aware
of the power available in scripts you now know how
to copy, edit, and write from scratch, you might want
to use more of this power to give your client list stack
more functionality. For example, you might decide to
add a button that adds the current charges to the
amount past due, and then places the total in the To-
tal Due field.

With HyperCard it doesn't matter that you didn't
think of everything you might want to do with this
stack on the day you designed it. It's never too late to
add new features to a stack or to modify features that
are already there. So even though you created your
client stack just to keep track of customers' names
and addresses and what they owe you currently, it's
not too late to modify it so it does a lot more.

Making the Client Stack
More Powerful

In Chapter 5 you saw how HyperCard can calculate.
\XTiy not build some of that calculation power into
your client stack by adding a button that does some
of the arithmetic for you. This section shows you
how.

Creating a
Button that
Totals a Bill

In the previous chapters, you copied buttons and
changed their scripts. Although HyperCard encour-

230 CHAPTER 6 I EXPANDING A STACK'S CAPABILITIES

ages copying and moditying wherever possible, you
can also' create new objects. For example, if you
choose New Stack and uncheck Copy current back-
ground, you get a blank slate. In this new, blank
background you can create everything you want in
the background of the new stack— a picture, buttons,
and fields. You can also use the Paint tools to draw
your own pictures rather than relying on prefabri-
cated pictures from existing background. With the
Field and Button tools youVe free to create brand-
new fields or buttons as well.

In this section you'll create a new button and give it
a script that will use HyperCard's calculating ability
to total a bill.

1. Go to your Client stack by clicking the picture that
represents it on the Home card.

First go Home if you're not already there.

2. Choose Background from the Edit menu to work
on the stack's background.

This will place the button you're about to cre-
ate on every card that shares this background.

3. Create a new button by Choosing the Button tool
and Command-dragging.

The new button will present the total amount
due. Command-drag across the existing
words "Total Due" to place the button next to
the Total Due field. Don't worry if you don't
get the button in exactly the right place. You
can move it or change its size later. Figure 6.1
shows where to drag.

4. Double-click the button to see the button dialog
box.

The button is selected when you Command-
drag to create it. You could also choose But-

MAKING THE CLIENT STACK MORE POWERFUL

231

A niij Frill r^n Tools Oblccts

Liz"

Housekeeping

1 632 Alison
Columbus, OH
43217
555-7653

□

Past Due
Charlies
iTolalbue!

FIGURE 6-1 Creating a new button by Cainmand-ciragging, Buttons can be

transparent, shoiuing through to anything under them such as this
I'aint text.

ton Info from the Objects menu to see this se-
lected buttons dialog box. This dialog box is
shown in Figure 6.2.

Hint

Use the button tool to adjust the size or shape of
any button or field. You don't have to be in the
background to adjust a background button or
field.

Notice that the dialog box shows you that this is a
background button by referring to its Background
Button number (abbreviated "Bkgnd" to save space
in the dialog box). It has an ID number that's unique
within the current background. Its style is preset to
Transparent, and the insertion point is in the Name
blank, ready for you to name the button.

232

CHAPTER 6 I EXPANDING A STACK'S CAPABILITIES

Tools (Ihjects

FIGURE 6-2 The button dialog box has mformatiim about the selected button.

It also has a LinkTo buttnn for aiming the selected button at a
destination you choose and a Script button for seeing and editing
the button's script.

Hint

Burtons you cretite by Command-dragging arc pre-
set to the transparent style; buttons you create with
the New Button command are preset to rounded
rectangles, with Show Name checked, and the pre-
set name "New Button."

5. Name the button by typing "Total Due" into the
Button Name blank.

MAKING THK CLIENT S I'ACK MORE POWERFUL

233

Hint

You don't need to name buttons unless you want
to display the name on the button itSL-lf or you
want to refer to that button from other scripts. You
won't show this button s name on the button itself,
but you may want to refer to it later in a script.
Naming an object never hurts.

6. Set the button to highlight when you press it by
clicking Auto Hilite.

Auto Hilite specifies that the entire button will
be highlighted whenever you click it using the
Browse tool, if the button is transparent, as
this one is, anything under the button- — text
pictures, or whatever — will be highlighted
when you click the button.

7. Click OK or press the Return key.

Usually pressing the Return key is the "safest"
thing in any dialog box. The safest thing in this
case would cancel any setting you've chosen. But
you use these dialog boxes most often to set some
characteristic. So HyperCard interprets pressing
the Return key as a go-ahcad rather than a cancel
and accepts any changes you've made in the set-
tings. Click the Cancel button if you really do want
to cancel.

8. Hold down the Shift key while you drag the button
from one of its edges to adjust its size.

Nonce that holding down the Shift key while
you drag constrains movement to either the

234

CHAPTER 6 EXPANDING A STACK'S CAPABILTTTES

horizontal or vertical plane. {If the button
style is round rect, holding down the Shift key
adjusts the buttons height to the standard
Macintosh button height.) Try to make the
button match the Total Due text that's under
it. Adjust the size so that the entire Total Due
fits roomily within the button.

Hint

You can constrain the height of a button to be the
height of a standard Macintosh button by holding
down the Shift key while you use the Button tool
to adjust the size and shape of the button.

9. Drag the button from its center to move it exactly
where it should be.

Remember that you can always adjust it again
later.

10. Use the Browse tool to see the effect of clicking
the button.

When vou click the button using the Browse
tool, the Paint text beneath it is highlighted
because you checked the Auto Hilite option.

You could probably spend a few more hours expcri-
mendng with the various button styles. For example,
you could choose the round rcct style (that looks like
an ordinary button), name the button Total Due, and
have Show Name checked on. This would obsciire
the Paint text in the background that says the same
thing. (You could cither delete the Paint text or leave
it there; it's not hurting anything when it's not visible.)

MAKING THE CLIENT STACK MORE POWERFUL

235

Or you could try a rectangle or shadowed style of
button to give a hint where you should click to make
the button total the bill. Experiment with a few of the
possibilities. (The check box and radio button styles
probably aren't what you want here; they're for set-
tings you chck on and off.)

Editing a

Button's

Script

You've copied buttons to use in your own stacks and
you've changed their destination using I.inkTo and
clicking a destination in the Destination palette. And
you've seen scripts that tell HyperCard to go Home
or to go to your new stack or sort cards in a stack.
You've also seen bow you can customize them to do
what you want them to do.

When you create a new button, as you just did, the
script is empty except for the message handler'"on
mouseUp" and "end mouseUp," as shown in Figure
6.3 and an insertion point where you can fill in the
script. Now it's time to fill in this script.

1. Choose the Button tool.

2. Hold down the Shift key while you double-click
the Total Due button.

You can double-click any exisring button
whenever youVe using the Button tool— to
change the buttons properties or to edit its
script. Holding down the Shift: key takes you
direcdy to the button's script, without stop-
ping at the dialog box.

236 CHAPTHR 6 1 EXPANDING A STACK S CAPABILITIES

FIGURE 6-3 The buttons script is orif^inally empty except for the on mnuseilp
and end mouseUp control structure. The inserlion point is on the
line between, so you can add a script that ivilt he executed when
the mouse button is pressed.

Hint

Holding down the Shift key while you double-click
a button takes you directly to the button's script,
without bothering you with the Button dialog box.

3. Type:

Put field "Past Due" into field "Total Due"
Rdd field "Charges" to field "Total Due"

Type this exacdy as shown, quotes and all.
Check Figure 6.4 for how the script should
look when you ve finished typing the new
lines into it. With two-word field names its
often necessary to include the quotes to pre-
vent confusion, although they're not strictly

MAKING THE CLIENT STACK MORE POWERFUL

237

t File Edil Go Taoli Objects

Script of bkgnd bullon id 48 - "Total Due "

□ rt tliQiJ^eUp

put field

"Past Due" into field "Totot Due"

ndd field

"Charges" tcp field "Tcptal Due"

end rnrju^eUp

[ Find ] [ Print

□ K Cancel

FIGURE 6—4 The completed messiif^e handler for the Tahil Due hiittim.

required. Past Due, Total Due, and Charges are
the names you gave these fields in Chapter 4.

4. Click OK.

YouVc told HyperCard that when the user
clicks this button — causing the "mouseUp"
message to be sent to the button — HyperCard
should take the contents of the field Past Due
and put them into the field Total Due. The
next line contains a new command- — Add.
HyperCard should add the value in "Charges"
to the total in Total Due.

You've used two HyperTalk commands in this script.
The Put command places the amount currcndy
shown in the Past Due field into the Total Due field.
(The word "into" means replace anything thats cur-
rently there. You could also use "before" to append

238

CHAPTER 6 EXPANDING A STACK'S CAPABILITIES

the amount in front of the current contents of the
field or "after" to append it after whats there.) The
Add command then adds the current charges to the
amount you just put into Total Due.

Hint

The Add command requires a numeric value. You
can't use it to add one piece of text to another, for
example. (You'd use "Put.. .after" or "Put...hefore"
for that.) HyperCard will complain if you try to
add using somethmg that isn't a number. "Put"
works with text or numbers as well as dates in
many formats— that is, with any text.

5. Use the Browse tool to go to the card for any client
whose bill you want to calculate.

Go to a card in My Clients that has a number
in the Past Due (ield as well as in the Current
Charges field.

6. Select any amount currently in the Past Due field
and type:

You could also press the Tab key to select the
first background field on the card— the Name
and Address held — and then Tab repeatedly
until you're at the Past Due field.

Hint

The Tab key rakes you systematically to the next
background Held (from farthest to closest) and then
through each card field on the current card.

MAKING THE CLIENT STACK MORE POWERFUL

239

* File Edit Bo TonH ObjBcIs

nCURE 6-5 A hill HyperCard cakulattd

Hint

Don't use dollar signs when you want to do arith-
meric on information in fields. And for now don't
include cents in the amount.

7. Use the Browse tool to select the amount in the
field "Charges" and type: 140

For the purpose of this exercise, let's say this
is the amount you charge monthly.

8. Use the Browse tool to click the new button you
created over Total Due.

HyperCard performs the button's script, plac-
ing the Past Due amount (0 in this case) into
the Total Due and adding your Charges
{$140} to the Total Due. Your client owes you
$140. You can see how this looks in Figure
6.5.

240

CHAPTER 6 EXPANDING A STACK'S CAPABILITIES

tiint A field with no value in it is automatically assumed

to be 0. With HyperTalk, unlike other program-
ming languages, you don't have to set a new fields
value to 0.

Creating a
Button that
Subtracts
Payments

If your customers send you payments, you can man-
ually subtract the amount from the Past Due field and
type in the current Past Due amount. But it would be
much easier to create another button that subtracts
payments automatically after asking you the amount
of the payment. This section shows you how.

You've already used the Add command and the Put
command to have HyperCard figure out the total
amount due and display it in the right place. Now
you will use the Ask command to present a dialog
box for entering information. (The Ask command is
similar to the Answer command you used when you
modified the Sort button in Chapter 5.) The Ask
command allows you not only to question, but adds
a blank for an answer. The blank is preset to have
some selected text in it — in this case. When you
later use the button, you can change the content nf
the blank by typing or accept it as it is by clicking the
OK button. If you OK it, HyperCard will subtract
the amount you type in from the field that contains
the Past Due amount. If the field then contains a neg-
ative number, because your client paid more than was

MAKING THE CLIENT STACK MORE POWERFUL

241

past due, that negative number is added to the
Charges field (credited toward charges) and the Past
Due field is set to 0. In other words, payments are
(ifst applied to past due amounts and then toward
current charges.

Hint

Most of the commands you construct with
HyperTalk can sound quite Engiish-like. For ex-
ample. Go to card 3 of stack "MvClients."

1. Choose the Button tool.

You're going to be working with a button
again,

2. Choose Background from the Edit menu to work
in the background.

Or press command-B to do the same thing.

3. Create a new button by holding down the Com-
mand key while you drag to the left of the words
"Past Due."

You could also create the new button by
choosing New button from the objects menu,
but then it would be prebet to a round rect
with the name "New Button" showing.

4. Double-click the button to see its dialog box.

Type "Payment Received" into the button
name blank.

5. Click Show Name to have HyperCard display the
button's name and click Auto Hilite to have the but-
ton highlight when you cUck it using the Browse tool.

You could also make the button more tradi-
tional looking by clicking roundrect if you
want.

242

CHAPTER 6 EXPANDING A STACK'S CAPABILITIES

6. Click the Script button to edit your new button's
script.

Once again HyperCard has added "on
mouseUp" and "end mouseUp" for you and
put an insertion point between the lines.

7. Type in the new script:

ask "ftiiiount of payment?" with □ V
subtract it from field "Past Due"
if field "Past Due" < D then

add field "Past Due" to field "Charges"

put □ into field "Past Due"
end if

send "mouseUp" to background button "Total Due"

Use the Bacicspace key to erase mistakes, the
Return key (or new lines. Press the Tab key
when you've finished typing the lines to have
HyperCard format them with the right inden-
tation. After you have pressed the Tab key,
your script should look exactly like the one in
Figure 6.6.

HyperCard automatically indents certain lines of
your script for you so that pairs of statements are
indented the same amount. For example, "if
field..." and "end if" are a pair of statements that
are part of the same control structure and are in-
dented the same amount so they visually balance
each other. If the lines don't automatically shift to
indent, you have a clue that you made a typing
mistake. Check for typos.

MAKING THE CLIENT STACK MORE POWERFUL

243

File Edil Go Tools Objects

FIGURE 6-6 The script for the Payment received b

niton

Don't forget the quotes around the field names and
around the text you want HyperCard to preset as an
answer.

S. Press the Enter key.

HyperCard indents the lines properly (if you
haven't already pressed the Tab key to do
this). You can see them properly indented the
next time you open this script.

9. Adjust the button to fit its name.

Drag from an edge to make it larger.

10. Use the Browse tool to try out the button's script
by clicking Payment Received.

Figure 6.7 shows you the dialog box that
appears.

C:HAPTER 6 I FVPANniNG A STACK S CAI'ABILITIES

A Flic tilil Gn TonIs niijefli

Liz'

□

Houseke eping

Columbi,
4

555-

flmouni of payment?

Paumeni recBiuetl Past Due
^ Charges 40

Total Due 40

Fin IRE 6-7 Ihe V^yment rccewed button- Yuu enter the amount rcM

FIGURE 6 is^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^^^^ ^.^;^„,,,,,

now due.

n. When the dialog box appears, type: 50

This replaces the preset "0." Then click OK or
press the Return or Enter key, to enter the Pay-
ment Received amount.

HyperCard shows that your client now has a
credit of $50.

Examining the script more closely

Here's what each line in this script does:
ftsk"Rraount of payment?" with □

presents a dialog box that asks the question "Amount
of payment?" and provides the preset amount of 0,
which is highlighted so that you can easily change it
just by typing a new amount.
Subtract it f rora field " Past Due"

MAKING THE CLIENT STACK MORE POWERFUL

245

When you type in an amount and click the OK but-
ton, that amount is placed in a local variable called
"it." HyperCard now takes that value (the value in
"it") and subtracts it from the value currendy in field
Past Due.

If field "Past Due" < □ then

Now we've placed a condition on the next action
HyperCard should take. In other words, HyperCard
should perform the next lines of this script only if the
Past Due field contains a negative number^ — only It
the customer caught up with past months and paid
some of the current charges.

Add field II Past Due" to field i' Charges"

You're telling HyperCard to put this negarivc amount
into the Charges field.

Put into field I' Past Due"

The Past Due field is now because the balance has
been paid off.

eud if

You can try out any one-line command in the iVIes-
sage box, without putting it in an objects script.
Type the entire Command line into the Message
box and press the Return key to perform the com-
mand, just as if you had created a button and put
the command into the button's script. The Help
system has examples of commands to try. Save
yourself some typing by holding down the Com-
mand key while you drag across any one-line ex-
ample there and press the Return key to try it out.

CHAPTER 6 I FXPANDING A STACK'S CAPABILITIES

Sending a
Message to
Another
Object

You have now completed reviewing the conditional
part of the script. The script could end here, but the
following line lets you pass the inouseUp message to
another object:

seQd "mouseup" to backgrouQd button "Total Due"

Without this line you could click the Total Due but-
ton to have HyperCard perform the button's script.
But by sending the mouseUp message to the Total
Due button from withm this script, you can have the
Total Due script performed without clicking another
button. The Past Due field (now 0) is placed in the
Total Due field, and the Charges field (now a negative
number) is added to the field Total Due.

Hint

The "Send" command lets any object send a ine5-
sage to another object. Its as if the second object
had received the message from the system or
through normal inheritance of the message.

MAKING THE CLIEN T STACK MORE POWERFUL

247

Creating a
Button That
Moves
Current
Charges into
Past Due

What you have now would probably work fine for
the first month. But after a month, you'd need to add
the current charges and move any unpaid balance
from the Total Due into the Past Due field and recal-
culate the whole thing. *

Here's how to make a button that keeps closer track
of what your clients owe by moving the Charges into
the Past Due field so that you can enter a new current
charge:

1. Choose Background from the Edit menu, or type
Command-B.

2. Hold down the Option and Shift keys while you
use the Button tool to drag the Payment Received
button.

Holding down the Oprion key copies the but-
ton; holding down the Shift key constrains the
copy to the same horizontal or vertical plane
as the original.

Hint

You can make a row of buttons that are all lined
up by holding down the Shift key while you Op*
tion-drag to copy the original.

248

CHAPTER 6 EXPANDING A STACK'S CAPABILITIES

The new button has the snrne name as the original,
and it has the same script. You'll change these, but
keep the transparent style and leave Show Name
unchecked.

3. Double-click the button to see its dialog box.

Be sure to use the Button tool to double-click.

4. Change this button's name to "New Month" by
typing "New Month."

The typing automatically replaces the selected
name. You'll see New Month when you pur
■ the dialog box away.

5. Leave Show Name and Auto hilite checked.

The name "New Month" will be displayed on
the button and the button will be highlighted
when it is clicked with the Browse tool.

6. Click OK.

Take a look at the new button to make sure
you've set it to be like the original.

7. Use the Browse tool to click the New Month
button.

The same dialog box appears that appears
when you click the Payment received button
because the New Month button has the samu
script as the button it was copied from. But
the New Month button should do something
different. Changing its script is easy enough.

8. CUck Cancel.

9. Hold down the Shift key while you use the Button
tool to double-click the new button.

10. Select aU of the text between the "on mouseUp"
and "end mouseUp" Hnes.

The selected script is shown in Figure 6.8.
You'll replace these lines with a new script.

MAKING THE CLIENT STACK MORE POWERFUL

249

< Filp Edit fio Tools nil iecl'i'

I ■ ' ' ' il. ' .J ■ ■ I li ' iJiV ■ ■ ■ M. l , , r I ' 1 , 1 , .,

Script or bltgnil button ill 51 = ' NeLU Monlli "

^■.t.t.r^Kt It ri-c.li ileld ■Pa^l Cm*'
if fi*IJ "Puit Dut" tl-itii

tidO *l*ld -fasi. [Xia" ta ri^ld "Choroar-

pjt Irito field Tnit Ci>t"
*r.d if

rgiid "irpau.itfjp" to t-jcl ^--omid budon "Tolal Cije"

Find

Camel

FIGURE 6-8 Yim're goii/.i; lo repLice the selected script ivilb .1 iifiv scripl. As
ii'ith ,7)iv Macintosh text edrlitig. scU'cl!ii_^ texl Mid then typing
replaces the selection with what you subsequently type.

Hint

Holding down the Shift key while you double-click
a button is a shortcut for going right to its script,
without stopping at the button dialog box.

11. Type:

add field "charges" to field "Past Due"
put □ into field "Charges"

put "Enter this month ' s charges" into Message Bojt

Type a Return to start each new line of the
script. Be sure to include the quotes around
any field name of more than one word to
make sure HyperCard knows that a field
name follows.

250

CHAPTER 6 EXPANDING A STACK S CAPABILITIES

Hint

When editing a script, use the Return key to start
a new line for each command. Press the Tab key to
have HyperCard try to straighten out any indent
errors you made while typing.

12. Click OK or press the Enter key to accept the
changes to the script.

This moves the old current charges to the Past
Due field, clears the Current Charges field,
and puts a message into the Message box, re-
minding you to add this months charges.

13. Use the Browse tool to click the New Month
button.

The Charges field changes to and the Past
Due field changes to 90.

You're using the same commands you used
before— "add" to add two numbers, and
"put" to place a value in a field. You're also
using the "put" command to place a message
in the Message box.

Hint

The Message box is available to you within scripts
as well as from the Edit menu. Any script can au-
tomatically display the Message box as part of its
script. And you can also put something into the
Message box — text or the result of calculation or
the result of a function (the date, for example).
Whenever you put something in the Message box
from a script, the box is displayed automadcally.

KEEPING PERMANENT RECORDS

* Fife Edit lio Tools [lti|ecls

Lis'

Housekeeping

1 632 Ahson
Columbus, OH
43217
555-7653

PaymenI receiued past Due 90
Mem Monlti Charges

Total Due 90

u .. I i 'i fii;fiifiii.|irii"3'!|l|;!!H5ii!l|H.»i|- |l||j,!l ]j|!|;i!jH|!|ryH.| Fiiw l! i|N I V ! B! i !ii' l |l l ' i| l | ] | ^ ;; ! l f|!i>il!i; ll i| 'i| !MN ! i ii^^

Enter this month's charges

FIGURE 6-9 Getting ready to add this mnnth's charges.

14. Add a new month's charges by selecting the zero
in the Charges field and typing: 140

Figure 6.9 shows the Charges field selected,
ready for you to type in the new charge.

15. Press the Total Due button

Pressing the Total Due button puts the
amount in Past Due into Total Due and adds
the current charges to it. See Figure 6.10.

Keeping Permanent
Records

You can make this simple record system much more
elaborate if you want to. It can keep a permanent
record of the amounts charged and received by using
another stack to keep track of the records.

252

CHAPTER 6 EXPANDING A STACK'S CAPABILITIES

t File Edit Go Tools Dbjetts

m Liz"

Housekeeping

1 632 Alison
Columbus, OH
43217
555-7853

Steve Embury
6253 Carolyn St
San Francisco, CA

Paymenl recelLied Past Due 90

Neiu Month Charges 140

Tola^ue 230

!:iwsi-?iaiaB!iiiaiB@ifr'i]nM'ii.i;ia! 35aii!!ia!ir!ii^

Enter tliis month's ctiarges

FIGURE 6-10 Clicking the Total Due button to add this month's charges.

Although your customers don't need a monthly his-
tory of the account, maybe you'd like to have this
informanon available for yourself. Here's how to cre-
ate another stack and modify the exisdng New
Month button to create a permanent record of your
clients' accounts.

Creating a
New Stack
Using the
Current
Background

In this secrion, you're going to create a new stack
(Client History) to keep a history of your clients' past
bills. To do this, you'll have HyperCard copy the
client's current statement to another stack so that

KEEPING PERMANENT RECORDS 253

Eillt Go Tnors OhJpcti

Housekee

1632 A
Columbu
4;
555-

HjjperCard Stacks]

fillill H*S

C (til (It
(idi iil'.s ([rlili CIS
Ill s i Iili'iif5iif
11;ii(i]'k N'liIrK
C<ii Ill's [irfiiriH litt

=3 HD Backup

Neiu statk name:

Client Historijl

[I I ii>«

[ Neuj ]
[ Cancel ]

1 Copy current background

FIGURE 6-11

Naming the new stack for Client History. The new stack uses the
same background as the current stack unless you uncheck Copy
Current background. I'ressing HyperCard stacks takes ynu up the
hierarchy to uthcr folders and disks. Clicking Drive looks at folders
in another disk drive. Clicking; New creates a new stack with the
name you give it in the name blank.

your Client stack will always contain just the current
month's activity. Then you'll be able to print out an
account history of your Client History stack by
choosing Print Report from the File menu.

1. Choose New Stack from the File menu.

It doesn't matter which card you're looking at
when you choose the command, as long as
you're somewhere within your Client stack.
Each card in that stack uses the same back-
ground. Figure 6. 1 1 shows the dialog box that
appears when you choose this command.

254

CHAPTER 6 EXPANDING A STACK'S CAPABILITIES

2. Name the stack Client History and click New.

Leave Copy Current background checked so
your new stack will copy and use the same
background as your Client stack.

Put the new stack in the same folder as the original
stack. It will make it easier for HyperCard to keep
track of your stacks later when they become inter-
linked. When you use LinkTo, HyperCard inserts the
Go command, followed by the ID of the card you link
to. If the card is within the same stack as the link, no
stack name is included. If the card is in another stack
but in the same folder, HyperCard adds the stack
name. This works as long as you always use these
stacks from the same disk and don't move stacks
from one folder to another. But if you move the des-
tination stack into a different folder, or if you copy it
to another disk, the link no longer works.

Hint Not moving linked cards from their original folder

ensures that the links will always work.

Hint

If you're building related stacks, keep all of the re-
lated stacks within the same folder. The "address"
of the destination card will then keep its shortest
form — name of stack only — and you won't have
any broken links later on. You can fix broken links
by including the correct path names in the "Look
for Stacks in" card in the Home stack.

HyperCard takes you to the first card in your new
stack. It has all the buttons and fields of your original

KEEPING PERMANENT RECORDS 255

Client stack, but none of the text. It has a single card
(because every stack has at least one card) but no real
information on it. You'll add cards with information
later, by creadng a button that copies cards from the
original stack to the new one.

3. Press the top left key to go back to the original
Client stack.

Because these stacks look so much alike,
check the stack name by choosing Stack Info
from the Objects menu to see its name. Or put
some Paint text in the new stacks background
(such as "Client History") to disdnguish it
from your current Client stack (My Clients).

If you have a large-screen Macintosh, the stack
name will always be visible at the cop of the win-
dow just as document names are visible in other
applicadons. Otherwise, choose Stack Info from
the Objects menu to see the stacks pathname — the
name of the current stack, any folders it's in, and
the disk name — each separated by colons.

Moving Old
Records into
the Client
History Stack

By now you know that you can always go back and
change a button's script. You can edit the New
Month button so that it automarically places a client's
current records in the Client History stack at the be-
ginning of each month. When you click the New

256

CHAPTER 6 EXPANDING A STACK S CAPABILITIES

Month button (once each month), the client's current
card will be copied to the Client History stack before
you make any changes to the card to reflect the cur-
rent month s transactions.

1. Choose the Button tool.

2. Hold down the Shift key while you double-click
the New Month button.

This takes you directly to the button's script.

3. Click just before the second line — "Add field
'Charges' to field 'Past Due.'"

Now you can insert lines of script at this in-
sertion point.

4. Type: DoMenu Copy Card

This will later copy the entire card, just as if
you had chosen the command from the Edit
menu.

5. Press the Return key to start a new line. Type: Push
card.

6. Press the Return key again and type: Go to stack
"Client History"

This script will go to the new stack where you
want to keep the history of the transactions.

You couid hide this acdon from the screen by in-
cluding the line "lock screen" before going to the
Client History stack and then including "unlock
screen" when you come back to the original card.
But going to the Client History stack will be a re-
minder to you about what is happening to the old
card, to watch the script take you to the new stack
and back again. Therefore, it's probably better to
leave the screen unlocked.

KEEPING PERMANENT RECORDS 257

,^ File Go " ToplV " ilbjetU

Sctipl of bkgnil bulton id 16 - "Neui Month "

on mouseUp "
doMenu "Copy Cqrd"
push card

go to ilock "Client Hiitory"
dnNenu "Paste Cord"
pop card

aOO field "Charges' to flerd "Past Due"
put into field "Chorges"

put "Entei- this month's charges" ihta nesiooe bo<
end nous e Up

Find I ( PrinI

OK Cancel

FIGURE 6-12 The scrip! that copies the current card to the Client Histor\' stuck-

7. Press the Return key and type: DoMenu Paste
Card

This will paste a copy of your client's card into
the Client History stack.

8. Press the Return key and type: Pop Card

This will later take you back to the original
stack. (The card that was Pushed earlier in the
script.)

9. Press Return

Figure 6. 1 2 shows the completed script for the
New Month button.

10. Click OK or press the Enter key and use the
Browse tool to try the New Month button.

Say it's a new month and your client hasn't
paid you anything.

258

CHAPTER 6 EXPANDING A STACK'S CAPABILITIES

11. Enter the new charges in the Charges field and
chck the Total Due button.

For each of your clients, you'll press the New
Month button once at the beginning of each
month, saving a copy of the account balance
in the chent history stack.

Using the date to display a Card field

You could make yourself an automatic reminder chat
it's time to bill clients by adding a script to the Home
card.

1. Go Home.

2. Choose Card Info from the Objects menu.

3. Click Script and then type:

on openCard

if word B of item E of the long date ^ 1 then
show card field reminder
show button "OK"
end if
end openCard

4. Click OK.

5. Create a Card field by Command-dragging with
the Field tool. Double-click the field and type into the
field name: Reminder.

6. Click Shadowed and then click OK.

Choose a new font if you want by clicking
Font before you click OK.

7. Use the Browse tool to click in the field and type;
Remember to bill clients today!

8. Type into the Message box: Hide Card field
"Reminder"

The card field will stay hidden until the first
of the month.

KEEPING PERMANENT RECORDS 259

* File Edit Go Tools OLjecIs

Phone

JfK.

Home Card CB

L?J

— h

Remember to bill clients todayi

'rl Idm Clip Srt Cjrd Idfis Button Idtii Stick Mn5 Ouolilit

liliii'iiiiiij'iSiiitiiFiOl

FIGURE 6-13 You can create a field that reminds you to bill customers at the

beginninf^ of the month. HyperCard checks the Macintosh clock to
know when to shoic the field.

Now place a button in the field by following these
steps.

1. Show the Card field by typing; Show Card field
"Reminder"

2. Command-drag using the Button tool to create a
small button as shown in Figure 6.13.

3. Double-click the button and type OK into the
name blank.

4. Click RoundRect.

5. Click Show name and then click Script.

6. Type: Hide button "OK"

7. Press Return.

8. Type: Hide Card field "Reminder"

260

CHAPTER 6 I EXPANDING A STACK'S CAPARILTTIES

These lines should go between the "on mouscUp"
and "end mouscUp" lines.

9. Click OK to accept.

Printing Your

Client

Histories

You could just leave the Client History stack as ir is
and go to it only when you have a quesdon about .in
old bill. But you can also use this stack to produce
nifty reports and summaries. Here's how:

1. Type into the Message box: Go to stack "Client
History" Press the Return key.

This takes you to the first card in the new
stack.

2. Hip through the cards and notice that they're ar-
ranged chronologically.

Most recent cards are at the beginning of the
stack because that's where the script pastes
them.

3. Choose Prim Report to design a custom financial
report.

This dialog box, shown in Figure 6.14, is full
of riches! Print Report prints the text fields
from either the entire stack or just within the
current background. When the current back-
ground is checked, as it is here, you can print
any or all of the fields in the background.

You click to select a field and you drag or
Shift-click to make an additional selecfion.
For this report, you probably want to include
all of the fields, so leave them all selected.

KEEPING PERMANENT RECORDS 261

Fill! Go Tools Objetts

Print report... Cnpiei;|[
□ Manunl paper feed

Cancel

Arrange fields in:
O Labels
® Columns

° Bid iii Mi

Print tern fields from all cards:

In Uii: Hiilij (; s liii.t
® IJIith llie current background

Ulhicli fields:

:, , I 'ill! rii-iiiK

H Selected bHckground fields:

Heaaer: ^ Q

Name and Rddre'ts
Phone Number

Ddte

Total Due

Print the names of:
□ Cards K| Fielils

FIGURE 6-14 The Print Report dialog box allows almost unlimited formats for
printing only the text from stacks.

4. Drag the vertical bars on the sample page at the
left of the dialog box to adjust the spacing between
the columns.

Leave the first column fairly wide so that it
can hold the longest street address you have.
Make the phone number and date fields
slightly narrower, and make the columns that
contain numbers quite small (unless you plan
to charge a lot for your services!)

HyperCard shows the names of the fields in
very tiny print across the top of the page — just
legible enough for you to guess what they
might be. You can change the order of fields
by re-selecting them in the order you want
them printed. For this report, the original or-
der is probably fine to start with.

Leave Fields checked to include the names of
each field at the top of each column.

262

CHAPTER 6 EXPANDING A STACK'S CAPABILITIES

Hint The order of printing fields with the Print Report

dialog box is the order of the fields themselves. Yoii
can use the Bring Closer and Send Farther com-
mands in the Objects menu to change the order of
the fields, or you can just change the order you're
printing them in by selecting the fields in the order
you want them printed.

5. Click the icon with the numbers 1 and 2 near the
bottom of the dialog box to have HyperCard print
the current date on the report. Click the # icon to
have the pages numbered.

6. CHck between the icons in the header blank.

7. Press the space bar to insert spaces between the
date and the page number icons.

8. Click OK to have HyperCard print the report.

The next time you choose Print Report,
HyperCard will remember the setting you
chose last rime. You can either print the report
in the same format or change it.

Hint

In HyperCard, all print dialog settings are saved
with individual stacks.

Summary

In this chapter, you've learned how to create buttons
that perform the arithmatic functions on yout billing

SUMMARY 263

forms. You've created a button that totals the bill,
one that subtracts payments, and one that moves cur-
rent charges into the past due slot. This stack can pro-
vide you with a permanent history for each client.
The HyperCard Help system completely documents
the HyperTalk language, including all commands and
functions. You can use the Help system not only to
read about HyperTalk but to try out many sample
scripts. Get to Help from anywhere in HyperCard by
pressing Command -?.

The next chapter is a bagful of tricks to use in de-
signing stacks.

Chapter 7

"With HyperCard we
have designers
writing prugrivns
and programmers
building rock
videos. "
Chris Espinosa

Practical

HyperCard Tricks

In an early draft of the MacPaint book, I wrote, "Watch the magii:
happen." The sentence was deleted when reviewers pointed out tharii
wasn't really magic to get the Macintosh to flip a graphic selection
upside down. It could all be explained. But can't all magic be explained

TEXT AND GRAPHICS: A GOOD MARRIAGE 265

as well? What follows is a collection of practical
tricks for mastering HyperCard magic. I might call
this chapter: "What I wish 1 had known when I
started creating stacks."

Text and Graphics: A
Good Marriage

Text and graphics have been tentatively coexisting in
an uneasy truce since the early days of Macintosh,
but it's always taken a bit of effort to combine them'
m one place. Often you had to do all the text in one
application and all the pictures in another, and then
you had to assemble them into one piece at the last
possible moment because you couldn't edit them both
in the same place. Or you would add pictures just
before publication because scrolling was so slow
when you added pictures to a word-processing appli-
cation. In HyperCard, text and graphics seem really
comfortable together at last. Figure 7. 1 shows how a
few words and a great picture can work together to
get the message across better than either the text or
the picture could alone.

Before I started writing the HyperCard Help system,
Bill Atkinson looked me straight in the eye and gendy
pleaded, "Pictures. Lots of pic-tures." I wasn't too sur-
prised, remembering his preference for graphics over
words from my experience writing the MacPaint
book. But even if I'd never heard it from Bill, I think
I would have concluded before very long that
HyperCard is at its best and most powerful when it
exploits the graphic element, when it says it with a
picture, even in applications that are not necessarily
"graphic" — an expense report, for example.

266 CHAPTER 7 PRACTICAL HYPERCARD TRICKS

<t File Edit Go Tool^ Objetis

Paint

□

Reclangle lool

Draws rectangle? hollow or filled With fie current
pattern Set options using the commands in the Options
menu Hold down the Option key to draw borders using
the current pattern Hold down the Shitt key to draw
squares

FIGURE 7— I horm and the shape of content.

As beautiful as the Macintosh screen can be, it still
feels better to curl up in a chair with a book when
you have long passages to read. (I keep trying to
imagine the square little Macintosh perched on some-
one's lap.) My rule of thumb became to use a picture
instead of words wherever I could. Coworker Kristee
Kreitnian and I christened ourselves "Text and
Graphics" (sung to the tunc of "Love and Marriage").

What if you can't draw? It doesn't matter. You can
use the great collection of card pictures in the Card
Ideas stack and snippets of art in the Art Ideas stack
included with HyperCard, or use the Import Paint
command to use images from the many available col-
lections of MacPaint or MacPaint-compatible docu-
ments. If you use the selection rectangle and the lasso
to select and change the pictures, and use the other
Paint tools to add your own flourishes or a personal
logo you type in, it's almost as good as having your

TEXT AND GRAPHICS: A GOOD MARRIAGE 267

own graphics department. Figure 7.2 shows a
MacPaint picture heing prepared in MacPaint before
importing to HyperCard.

Restraint and
Other Design
Guidelines

But having art readily available is different from using
graphics well, hi fact, having abundant graphics
available can sometimes create new problems. Just as
the early days of Macintosh produced some untem-
pered graphic flair m newsletters that used 32 type-
styles in one page, all of these new artistic tools tempt
us to abandon caurion in graphic design. But after
allowing yourself a brief fling, you'll probably take a
good hard look at what youVe done and hold back

268 CHAPTER 7 PRACTICAL HYPERCARD TRICKS

a bit after that. You'll discover that you don't have to
design the world all in one stack!

Attention to aesthetics is extremely important in
HyperCard. A stack can have hcautihil functional it)',
but without good aesthetic design it can still come
across as a flop. Here are a few general guidelines:

Use lots of pictures

Even if the application you're creating is primarily a
text application, keep the proporrion of text to
graphics about two to one. It's much easier to read
and understand a screen that includes pictures as well
as text.

It was interesting to watch test subjects as they tried
out the HyperCard Help system during its develop-
ment. Whenever new users came upon screens with
pictures, their eyes went immediately there, and only
after they had taken the picture in did they go back
to reading the words. Soon they began to expect
graphics on each card and seemed restless when they
found cards with nothing but words on them.

Use traditional rules of book design

Many of the same principles apply when choosing
text styles for text body and heads. Go light on the
number of levels of heads you use. Its harder to keep
track of what level you're at when you can see just
one screen at a time than when you're thumbing
through pages in a book. And you can't expect tht
readers of your text to remember that you're at the
third or fourth level of an outline they can't see. Fig-
ure 7.3 shows the two levels of heads used in the
HyperTalk secrion of the Help system. Every card has
a ride, which is actually the first-level head. If a card
isn't the first card using that level head, it has

TEXT AND GRAPHICS: A GOOD MARRIAGE

269

IntroducUon lo HyperTalk (conL.)

Scripts You can also place commands in SCRIPTS' tliat

HyperCard performs when certain events happen-
vrtienever you chck a button u;ing the Browse tool, lor
example .Look, at these buttons' scripts by double-
clicking -Uiem with the Button tool and clicking Script

FIGURE 7-3 The Sntrodiiclk/n to HyperTalk uses both text and graphics to
teach the programming language.

"(cont.)" following it to keep the reader aware of the
level they're currently at. In a book, you wouldn't
have to do this, because the reader could see at a
glance what level they were at {by looking at a run-
ning bead or the actual level head itself). The second-
level head— scripts — is set to the side of the main
body of text.

Don't mix too many fonts within an application.
Look at a book you love and see bow many design
elements it uses — one for the main text, one for chap-
ter dtles, two levels of heads, one for picture cap-
tions? Books with too many design elements are
confusing and distracting. So are over-complicated
stacks.

Consistency is also an important design principle. Put
elements such as headings, graphics, or navigadon
buttons in a consistent place throughout the stack.

CHAPTER 7 PRACTICAL HYPERCARD TRICKS

For example, if your srack includes a button to
Home, place it always at the top left corner of the
card or another consistent place you decide on. Place
buttons that go to the next card at the right, buttons
to the previous card at the left. This will make it eas-
ier to feel oriented in the new stacks you design and
will give them continuity.

Hint

Putting a button in the background keeps it in one
consistent place within that background.

But build in some surprises as well — just to keep
things interesting.

Gray and black for definition and depth

Cards crave edges and borders. All-white cards tend
to float away off the sides of the screen. One of the
easiest tricks is to create a "drop shadow" effect
around a rectangle by adding a one- or two-pixel bor-
der on two sides of a card. Be consistent in where you
have the "light source" coming from — for example, if
it comes from the top left, as it does in Figure 7.4, the
shadows will always fall on the bottom right of the
image. And try for some consistency in how deep the
shadows are — always one or always two pixels deep,
for example. Your graphics will look more pulled to-
gether if they have similar proportions.

Use rectangle or shadowed fields (choose these styles
from the Field dialog box) to define the areas where
text should go. Figure 7.5 shows some examples of
the styles of fields you can use. Notice that the ticid
at the top right of this picture doesn't have an outline,
but it does use underlining (you get this by clicking

TEXT AND GRAPHICS: A GOOD MARRIAGE

271

i File Idit Oo Tools Objects

Curve lool

□

Fain t Draw Ireehand shapes Choose Draw Filled Irora the

Options menu to connect and (ill curves Hold dow the
Option key to draw with the current pattern

FIGURE 7-4 The butterfly is shadnmed on the right. Cards that explain what
commands do display the menubar so that the menu won't be
confused with the real 'IhiiU window.

it rile Edit Co Tools Objects

Yoy. c&n_d_e3iqri a Cield

wi.tft..fiIlY..!!ME?.....y.PU

IW^At I- .— It..cnn.b.B

.b.M!l.ssM..aE.. n!?.t.._ji.t....

, ca 11, J, □ l^lc e ..1 inad

pap¥r_,. It .carj. hfl.yo

acC"pJ.!J,.,bar3, .and _lt

can have o shedotf. Of

you can design
a JlcM ivvtJi nnij
sfiape you ivtiiit.
It cciii be
boide,reil or tiot,
it can look, like.
Un£ji paper , it
can Fun^E scroU

You can design
a field with any
shape you ^
It can be
bordered o

it can lookl
lined paper
can have sc
bars, anisll

Vou can design a field

with any shape you wart.

It can 6e bcrderefl or not.

It can iDov like lined

paper, it can liave scroll

bnrs, and it cnn have a

shadow Df course, you

7 ' can also chonse anij

have a sha< ,, ^, , ,
„, BVQllaOlE font

Of course.

can also choose

anyavailab: You can design a field

font.

FIGURE 7-5 A variety of field styles

272

CHAPTER 7 I PRACTICAL HYPERCARD TRICKS

Show Lines in the field's dialog box) ro define the text
area. On the other hand, because the body of text on
each card is substantial enough by itself and doesn't
need to be defined with a box or lines, most of the
main text fields in the Help system use no outline and
no underlines. This also points out the fact that c\-
perimcntarion rather than a set of rules is your best
guideline in designing new stacks.

Stacks to be edited or just browsed?

Stacks you design to be altered are likely to have verv
different requirements than stacks you present as "fin-
ished," to he just browsed rather than edited by oth-
ers. The Help system was designed to present
informanon, not as a place for users to enter their
own information (although you could easily set up a
Help system meant to be annotated, by including li
field labeled "Notes"). But a calendar is set up to be
filled in later. Therefore, its important to determine
whether your stacks will be edited or just browsed.
And then it's important that it be clear where you can
click and type new text. If you're designing a spread-
sheet you might want to think about whether its clear
where you can type informanon in and where you
click to calculate. Whenever you want users to be
able to enter information into a field, its good to give
them a clue where they might click and type.

Consult an artist

Even though you can find lots of interesting art to add
to your stacks, you still may want an artist to help
you fine tune your design or, if it's a big project, give
you a basic design you can fit information into. This
is similar to the process you'd use in designing and
writing a book. You may have a very clear idea of

STARTING SIMPLE

what you want to say, hut without a structure to put
it into youVe likely to feel lost. Working closely with
an artist from the beginning can help you get the de-
sign to take the shape of the content.

Identify the elements you're going to need — what
kind of divisions and how many, what kind of illus-
trations and how many. It's a lot easier to work on
stacks if you have a rough design to work with from
the start, even if the design isn't fleshed out or if it
changes radically later on. And undl you're an expe-
rienced HyperCard author, you may want to stick
with one of the stack designs included in the Stack
Ideas stack.

Starting Simple

Lay out the basic content structure or funcdonality of
your stack before you build it in HyperCard. Do this
on paper. Its very easy to get carried away in
HyperCard, following a branch of a plan that may
not work out to he the best one in the end. It's fine to
follow flights of fancy, but you may be in for more
than you bargained for unless you set forth with and
at least try to stick to a plan. A simple oudine on
paper is usually all you need. If you're led to abandon
the plan later, fine. You'll have started off with sure
footing.

My first attempt at building a Help stack found me
inching my way along a limb whose plan was far
grander than anything I could complete in a reason-
able amount of time. And it wasn't a plan that would
have worked out in the end anyway. Quite naturallv
taken with the whole idea of linking together infor-
mation in a "hypermedia" application, I began fol-

274

CHAPTER 7 PRACTICAL HYPERCARD TRICKS

* File Idit Go Tools Objetts

^ Ik

Browsing HyperCard

□ How to use Help
a Navigating

□ Opening stacks

□ Editing text

□ Searching for text

□ Adding cards to stacks
^Printing cards and stacks

FIGURE 7—6 'I'his basic topic list was the backhnne of the Help system design.

From it grew an extended list cohering several more cards.

lowing a tiny branch to its ultimate extension. Then
I looked back at the whole thing and realized I could
never build the tree like that. It branched out too
quickly and into too much detail for me to handle. It
was hard not to get lost, even within just rw.'cnty or
thirty cards. Tht design needed a consistent frame-
work and a simple structure.

I started over with a small list of topics— each acces-
sible from a central place, each branching no more
than one additional level, and each with the same
look and a consistent way to get back to the main
topic card (see Figure 7.6.) Starting with this single
list of topics, 1 was eventually able to build in all the
complexity I needed, without getting bogged down in
detail at the beginning.

Don't be afraid to throw out what doesn't work!
Starting with a plan doesn't mean you need to stay

LAYERS AND BACKGROUNDS 275

with it forever. Sometimes the form needs to change
as the content becomes clearer. Realize that you prob-
ably learned something in the process. In the long run
it's a lot better to throw out a design that doesn't
work than to hang onto it because you feel you spent
so much time developing it.

The first couple of weeks I worked on HyperCard, I
tried using the bulletin board analogy, where all of
the cards were stuck on this magical bulletin board
and the links were pieces of yarn draped from card
to card. But I was missing the main points I needed
to convey with all of my "y^rn draping." Bill Atkin-
son interrupted my yarn drawing with six or seven
main topics that needed to be explained. We put each
topic on a small piece of paper and lined them up on
the floor, rearranging topics and subtopics to get
them in the right relationship. That same basic struc-
ture is still in the Help system, embellished and some-
times twisted into something quite different. But I
was always glad I had it as a foundation.

There's a simplicity in the basic elements of Hyper-
Card — text, pictures, and buttons. But this simplicity
can be somewhat deceiving because although there
are just these three elements, they can be combined in
ways that produce a rich and complex fabric. This
complexity can be confusing until you're used to the
idea of layers.

We're not used to "layers" on the Macintosh screen.
In MacPaint there's a single layer of bits— -each pixel
is either black or white — and that's it. The only ex-
ception is when you paste a picture in and it "floats"
in its selection rectangle above the rest of the picture

276

CHAPTER 7 I PRACTICAL HYPERCARD TRICKS

until you "ser it down" by clicking somewhere out-
side the selection.

HyperCard has this same "floating" layer, but it haa
other layers as well. If you understand how layers
work and how to use them together with transpar-
ency and opacity to present exactly the information
you want, you'll love all the flexibility they give you
as an author.

Background
and Card
Pictures

Every card can have both a card picture as well as a
background picture it shares with othet cards that
have the same background. These card and back-
ground pictures are each fixed in place front to back.
Figure 7.7 shows the relationship of objects within a
card and its background.

The background picture is the deepest layer because
it is behind everything else. The card picture is the
intermediate layer, because it is between the back-
ground picture and you. The background picture is
always opaque, because there's nothing behind it ro
hide or show through, but the card picture can be
either opaque or transparent, depending on whether
you want to see through to or cover up what's behind
it.

Pictures you paint with the Paint tools or paste in
from the Clipboard are initially opaque when you
paint them or paste them, but you can make any pic-
ture transparent by selecting it and choosing the
Transparent command. Figure 7.H shows a picture

LAYERS AND BACKGROUNDS 277

'' t File Edit Go Tools GtijGCls

Who's on lop?

Backqroynd Stiarpd Shared
PiclUF-e Fipid? But Ions

Card Card Card Vhal

pictur-f Fiplds BulloiTS Vou Sf r

The tiickgroui-id arnl ojr d pictur-n Jr»
in fi<td pfnilians OtKf r atijecl? can bt

T vithin IhP card or b4ckgroijnij-|
fran^parpftl or npaqUp ■r-'

FIGURE 7-7 Layers in HyperCard. The background and card pictures arc in
fixed, hack-to-front position. Other objects can he in any order
within the card or background and can be transparent or opaque.

278 CHAPTER 7 PRACTICAL HYPERCARD TRICKS

that has been pasted over another picture. (The cal-
endars are all in the original picture; the man sitting
on the chair has been pasted in.) The entire man and
his office chair were pasted in opaque, but it looks
like his right leg is transparent in this picture. This
shows an important difference between lassoing an
object and selecting it with the selection rectangle, hi
this case, the image was lassoed in the original. When
you lasso an object, the object is surrounded as
closely as possible. There must be a "leak" some-
where in the man's right pants' leg, where the lasso
was able to surround the border completely, not en-
closing the white area within the leg. When the pic-
ture was pasted, it didn't include the white area, and
so it looks transparent there.

Hmt

The "transparent leg" could be avoided by finding
the gap in the leg before you copied and pasted the
picture, or by selecting the picture using the selec-
tion rectangle [so that some white area is included
along with the picture itself).

Buttons and fields can also be either opaque or trans-
parent layers. Unlike pictures, you don't set a button
or field's opacity by choosing from a menu, but rather
by choosing one of the opaque or transparent button
or field styles from the button or field dialog box. The
Opaque, Rectangle, and Roundrect buttons are all
opaque; the Opaque, Rectangle, and Shadow field
styles are all opaque.

LAYERS AND BACKGROUNDS 279

Background
and Card
Buttons

Like pictures, buttons can be either in the background
layer or on the card layer. The background buttons
are shared by every card that uses the background
and the card buttons belong to individual cards. Un-
like pictures, buttons aren't fixed at certain immov-
able front-to-back posidons within the layering. They
can be pushed back or pulled forward (using the Send
Farther and Bring Closer commands). The only lim-
itation is that background buttons can't move any
closer than the card picture (which is fixed in place).
Nor can card buttons move behind the card picture.
Like pictures, buttons can also be either opaque or
transparent to cover up or show through to objects
behind them.

Bring Closer
and Send
Farther

Two commands — Bring Closer and Send Farther in
the Objects menu — are just for rearranging the front-
to-back-order of objects on a card. When you create
a new button or field, it's automatically placed closer
to you than the last button or field you created. But
you can change that order by using the Bring Closer
and Send Farther commands. Selecnng an object and
choosing Send Farther pushes the object one level
back. If the object at the next level back is of the same

280

CHAPTER 7 I PRACTICAL HYPERCARD TRICKS

type — another button if it's a button, another field if
it's a field — the numbers are reassigned to show who's
currendy on top. (The higher the number, the closer
to the top the object is.) An object's number is its
number within objects of the same type— field 3
among 4 fields, for example. If the object at the next
level is of a different type, the numbers don't change,
but their relative posinons do.

This same ordering scheme is used by HyperCard to
determine the order fields should be tabbed
through— the order fields will be highlighted in if you
press tbe Tab key anytime you have an insertion point
or other selection in text. This is something to think
about if you're designing a stack where Tab order is
important — any application where you'll later be en-
tering text such as a calendar, for example. Look at
one of the monthly calendars in Stack Ideas to see
how this works. If you press the Tab key while you're
editing text in any of the days' text field, you select
the following day's text, if the fields for the days in
the month had been created in the wrong order,
pressing the Tab key might take you to a random
place in the calendar. (All would not be lost if you
did do this; you couid use tbe Send Farther and Bring
Closer commands to reorder the fields.)

Tab order is also used when you want to print only
the text in a stack. The text fields are preset to be
printed in their back-to-front order.

Knowing about layers and opacity and using the
Bring Closer and Send Farther commands will let you
display exactly the informadon you want on any
card.

LAYERS AND BACKGROUNDS 281

The Order of
Objects on a
Card

Fields can also belong to the background or the card,
and they, also, can move freely in front to back place,
as long as they stay within either the background or
the card domain. You use the Send Farther and Bring
Closer commands to move a selected field in either
direction— farther away from you or closer to what
you see. Each object is assigned a number by
HyperCard. The objects furthest away have the low-
est numbers (they're numbered in the order of their
Creadon).

Because objects are numbered only with other objects
of the same type, when they're mixed together with
objects of another type (buttons with fields, for ex-
ample), bringing them closer or sending them farther
may not change their number. For example, back-
ground field 3 may move in front of background but-
ton 3 but still be behind background field 2. It's
number won't change unless it moves in front of
background field 2.

There are several reasons to care about the order of
objects on a card:

• The order sometimes determines what
you can see.

If an object is opaque you won't see an
object behind it. When you don't want
to make an object transparent (if its a
button or field, for example, making it
transparent means it can't have a bor-
der), you change the object's order to be
able to see something behind it.

282 CHAPTER 7 I PRACTICAL HYPERCARD TRICKS

The order determines which object gets
clicks.

If there's more than one object front to
back in the location you click on the
screen, the closest object will receive
(and be able to handle with a message
handler) the mouseUp message that's
sent when you click. Any buttons under-
neath that first button will never get the
mouseUp message unless the first but-
ton's script explicity sends the mouseUp
message using the "send" control struc-
ture ("send mouseUp to button 2", for
example).

The order determines Tab order.
When you press the Tab key, fields are
tabbed through in lowest to highest or-
der. All background fields on the current
card are tabbed through first, and then
the card fields on the cutrent card. If you
want a field to be tabbed to before an-
other field, use the Bring Closer or Send
Further commands to reorder the fields.

The order is used for presetting the Print
Report dialog box.

When you choose Print Report from the
File menu, the fields are presented in
their lowest to highest order. You can ac-
tually print the fields in a different order
by Shift-clicking them to select them in
the order you want them printed, so you
may not want to change the fields' order
just for pnnting. But it's something else
to think about in deciding which order
fields should be m.

LAYERS AND BACKGROUNDS 283

• The order is used in searching for text.
When you search for text, HyperCard
searches lower-numbered fields before
higher numbered fields. (It uses the same
order as it uses for Tab order.) If you
want a field to be searched before an-
other field, change their order.

Using card buttons to hide stack buttons

Often there are buttons yoird like to appear on all
but a few cards that share a background. For exam-
ple, in the Help system, I included three arrows in
most of the backgrounds. An arrow that points right
takes you to the next card on the same subject; an
arrow that points to the left takes you to a previous
card on the same subject; and a return arrow takes
you back to the topic card or a cross-reference that
brought you to the current subject.

Placing these arrows in the background made all
three of them appear on every card with the same
background. But when a card was the first one on a
topic I didn't want a left arrow. And unless the card
was the last on the topic 1 didn't want the return ar-
row to show up. To cover up a stack button so that
it can't be seen (and clicking it will have no effect) on
a card, 1 placed a "do-nothing" button over the stack
button on the cards I didn't want to use that back-
ground button. You make a "do-nothing" button by
using the Button tool to drag a new button over the
area. Click Opaque in the Button Style dialog box.
Don't hnk the button anywhere, and put nothing in
its script. Figure 7.9 shows using a card button on the
first card of HyperCard Help to cover up a back-
ground button that on all other cards takes you back
to where you've been before.

284

CHAPTER 7 PRACTICAL HYPERCARD TRICKS

A File Edit Go Taolt Objects

.^is iTii iTik ii .iTi ■iTii i*Ti .li i* iHt .li i,

HyperCard

Help

□ Introduction I

Click the Browse tab below
after you've seen the
Introduction.

FIGURE 7-9 An opaque card button covers up the background button m the
bottom right corner.

You might also use a card button to override an ac-
tion that normally takes place with a different action.
For example, a stack might include a background
button that takes you to the next card. The back-
ground buttons script says:

on mouseUp

go next card
end mouseUp

This might be what you want the button to do for all
of the cards in the background except one or two.
Maybe you want the last card of the stack to go to
the Home card, for example. To have clicking in the
same spot take you back to the Home card instead of
to the next card, you'd add a card button on top of
the background button with the script:

LAYERS AND BACKGROUNDS 285

on mouseOp

Go Home
end mouseOp

Now whenever you click in this spot on this card
only, you'll go Home instead of to the next card.

Using More
than One
Background

A stack starts out with one background. When you
choose New Stack from the File menu, you create the
stack either from scratch or by copying another back-
ground. But because stacks often grow to need more
than one background — either because you need a dif-
ferent background picture or different background
fields or buttons — you don't want to divide your ap-
plication up into more than one stack. This happened
with the Help system. It started with one back-
ground, but eventually grew to 17! Why?

My first divergence from the simple outline of six top-
ics came when I was working out how to present ex-
planations of the commands in menus. I wanted to
be able to show a picture of the menu and to have
clicking on any command in the menu take the reader
to a descripnon of the command.

Using a separate background for each menu let me
put the picture of the menu in the background, and
for each command create one corresponding back-
ground button that takes you to the description of
that command (see Figute 7.10.)

286

CHAPTER 7 I PRACTICAL HYPERCARD TRICKS

t File Edit Go

ObjeiU

Neiii Slack...

Open Stack...

Sane a Copy...

Import Pflint...

EHport Paint...

Compact Stack

Protect Stack.. .

Delete Stack-

Page Setup...

Print Card 3

Print SiBCk...

Print Report...

□ uil HyperCard s

I Med

FIGURE 7-lU

One of the backgrounds used in the Help stack. Puttmg this piciure
and buttons to each menu cominand in the background saves space
and effort.

Without using the separate backgrounds, each card
that described a command in a menu would have had
to have a picture of the menu and a card button to
each of the commands in the menu — for a total of
144 buttons for a menu with 12 commands! Having
that same menu in a separate background meant I
could use 12 background buttons instead of 144 card
buttons, and 1 could use a single picture of the menu
instead of 12 card pictures. I did use card pictures to
show the highlighted command being described on
that card; the technique I used to do this was to go
to the background picture, selecT a rectangular area
around the command being described, copy it, go out
of the background, paste the picture, and choose In-
vert (to highlight the command).

LAYERS AND BACKGROUNDS 287

Adding a
New

Background
to a Stack

You can use the New Background command to add
a background to an existing stack. This gives you a
blank new background with one blank card in it. But
this means you have to create the contents of that
new background yourself, separately copying what-
ever picture, fields, and buttons you want in that
background. This is what 1 did to create the various
sections of Help. I'd create the new background, copy
the original background picture, modify the picture
to suit the new background (usually changing the
tabs so that a different one was in the front), copy the
fields that were appropriate, and then copy the back-
ground buttons I needed, often modifying their
scripts to do something a little different from what
the original did.

There's another way to do the same thing that might
be a litde faster, depending on how much of the orig-
inal background you want to keep:

1. Copy a card that uses the original background.

2. Paste it into another stack temporarily and make a
small change to it to differentiate it from the original
background.

3. Paste it back into the original stack.

HyperCard recognizes it as a separate background
even though its almost identical to the original. Now
you can make it as similar to or different from the

288

CHAPTER 7 PRACTICAL HYPERCARD TRICKS

original as you want. The only cards affected by sub-
sequent changes to this background are those you
create while viewing the card that has the new back-
ground or while viewing any of its descendents.

Adding
Backgrounds
by Copying a
Card

The easiest way to add a new background in a stack
is to copy an existing background from another
stack.

The way you do this is a little sneaky. You can't just
go to a background you like, copy it, and paste it into
another background. And you can't paste an existing
background alone into another stack. Backgrounds
don't travel by themselves. They always are attached
to at least one card.

The way to copy a background is to get a card that
uses that background and later discard the card itself
if you don't want what's on it. Here's how you do it:

1. Go to the card whose background you want.

2. Choose Copy Card.

3. Paste the card into the stack you want to add the
background to.

Position it in the place in the stack where vou
want the new background to begin by going
to the card that should be before it and then
choose Paste Card from the Edit menu.

LAYERS AND BACKGROUNDS 289

4. Get rid of the contents of the card if you don't need
them in the new stack.

Deleting the card at this point will also delete
the background, because you're deleting the
only card in the stack that uses that back-
ground. But once you've added another card
to the background (by choosing New Card
while you're viewing the original) deleting the
original won't delete its background. Back-
grounds stick around as long as there are
cards that use them.

You can also propagate backgrounds into
completely new stacks by choosing New Stack
while you're at any card. If you leave Copy
Current Background checked in the dialog
box that appears, your new stack will have a
copy of the same background as the card you
were at when you chose the command.

How does HyperCard know which cards should use
which background? A card is born with a back-
ground when you create it. It has the same back-
ground as the card you're looking at when you
choose the New Card command. When you add a
new background (either by creating a new one or
adding a card that has a different background), you
also add the ability to add other cards that have that
background. Where you are when you choose New
Card makes a big difference. You can't replace a
card's background with a different one — you can only
modify the background (and thereby modify every
card that shares it). To change the background of a
specific card, you need to create a new card wirh the
background you want, and then copy each separate
element of the original card to it — the pictures, text,
and card fields or buttons one at a time.

290

CHAPTER 7 PRACTICAL HYPERCARD TRTCKS

More than
One Stack

Sometimes another background isn't enough. The
Help Index is a good example. I could have added
both of its fields to the main background of Help, (A
stack can have as many fields as yon have room to
create.) But having many text fields on the same card
(as you would if you added fields to the ones that
already exist in Help} makes it difficult and confusing
to add text to the right field, with insertion points
popping up where you least expect them, and having
the Tab key bring you to fields you don't really want
to use.

I could have added a new background to the main
Help stack, still keeping it within the same stack. But
the Help hidex also has special search requirements.
While someone was in the Index I wanted searching
to be limited to just the index entries. I could have
put the Index in a separate background and limited
the searching to certain fields, as I did in the Glossary.
But it always felt as if the Index should remain a sep-
arate piece. So the index is in a separate stack
altogether.

I also put the Help Samples in a separate stack. Help
Samples contains an assortment of cards used in the
Introduction to HyperCard. These also could have
been incorporated into the main Help stack, but I
kept them out because they were such an odd assort-
ment of different looks that it seemed as if they'd in-
trude in the flip book design of the rest of Help (see
Figure 7.11.) Also, Help Samples contains a small tu-
torial used to show how searching works. I wanted
to limit that searching to just a few cards. Putting

REAL TEXT AND PAINT TEXT 291

FIGURE 7-U One afthe cards in ihc Help Samples slack. Help Sajnpies is a

separate stack because it looks different from the Noteboob design
used in Help.

them in the separate Help Samples stack accom-
plished that.

Real Text and Paint Text

Why include two ways to produce text in the same
applicarion? Although both kinds of text in
HyperCard use the same fonts and produce text that
looks the same, the two kinds of text are very differ-
ent. Text you create by creating a field with the Field
tool, clicking inside the held using the Browse tool,
and typing is "strurtiired" or "real" text. This text is
much easier to boss around than Paint text. You can
select it just as you would select any Macintosh text,
and cut, copy, or paste it into any field on the same

292 CHAPTER 7 PRACTICAL HYPERCARD TRICKS

card or on a different card in the same stack or in a
different stack.

You can sort information that appears in real text,
and you can use text fields to print only the text you
want. You can also perform calculation on numbers
you represent using real text. And you can use the
Find command to search through real text for specific
text you're looking for.

But you can't use real text without first creadng a field
to put it in. And you can't flip real text over, invert
it, or fill it with patterns. Nor can you put real tcxr
in the background so that it can be shared by more
than one card. And if the text is displayed on a Mac-
intosh that has different fonts in the System file, the
text won't look like what you put in there because
the Macintosh will subsdtute an available font for
any that are missing.

Fancy Fonts
and Freedom
from the
System File

Paint text gives you a lot of freedom. With Paint text
it doesn't matter whether the font you originally used
is available later or not. Although you do need the
fonts when you t>'pe in the Paint text, once you click
anywhere else or move to another card, the charac-
ters are just bits, stored not as text but as a picture.
In the Help system I used mainly the New York and
Geneva fonts because they're available to everyone.
When ! wanted to use a fancier or less available font
I used Paint text instead of real text. Figure 7.12
shows some of the possibiliries for Paint text.

REAL TEXT AND PAINT TEXT

293

* File Eilil Go TooH Objects

Elo

□

Text tool

Type Paint text Choose fonts, sl!es, and styles by
choosing Text Style from the Edit menu or by double-
eliciting the Text tool Confirm choices by clicljing
anywhere Use Paint text whenever you want text in
places other than fields-tor display, heads, or caliouts.
lor example^ir whenever you want text to behave
more liKe a picture than text

— Flipped JxsT
Geneva 18pt, u ^p,,,,

New York 1 4pt. Bold

£mhe//isbed
Te/r

FIGURt 7-12 Paim text gives you a lot more flexibility in fonts and styles yoti
can use.

Shared Text

You can also use Paint text when you want text tu be
shared by many cards. For example, the text used in
the small business example in Chapters 4 and 6 of
this book uses Paint text for the name and address of
the company. Putting that Paint text in the back-
ground makes it appear on each card, which is used
as a bill to send to clients. If you used real text for
the name and address of the business, you'd have to
cut it and paste it to each card you wanted it to ap-
pear on. Therefore, sometimes you don't want real
HyperCard text, but rather the more freeform Paint
text you created with the Paint text tool.

With real text you can edit, search, sort on, and
change font, size, and style.

294 CHAPTER 7 I PRACTICAL HYPERCARD TRICKS

With Paint text you can create on the fly, without
creating a field to contain it; invert, flip, etc.; use cus-
tom or special fonts without worrying whether those
fonts are in every System file you use with the stack;
and place text in the Background where it can be
shared by every card that uses that background.

When I was writing the HyperCard Help system, I
wanted to show how you might superimpose a small
note over a card, for a definition of a word or more
detail on a subject. (This was before the advent of
card fields.) I wanted a button on the first card to lead
to a second card with a smaller card superimposed
on it. To avoid confusion and to have just one "live"
copy of the card's text, I wanted the second card to
use MacPaint text rather than the real text.

I made a screen shot of the original card and pasted
it onto a second card, where I also added the small
card overlay. Pretty clever, I thought. Just to check
what I'd done, I even went to the original card and
used the Text tool to select the text there, confirming
that it was real text. Then I went to the second card
and tried selecting the text there using the Text tool.
The beep confirmed that this was Paint text.

Several days later, I started to write out a "bug re-
port" describing an intriguing bug. Whenever I
moved the text field on my original card, a "shadow"
of the original text stayed behind. But of course it
wasn't a HyperCard bug. I had pasted the snapshot,
with its Paint text, right under the original text. The
card had both the real text and a picture of the text.
The real text was duplicated exactly by the Paint text
and, until 1 moved the text field, it wasn't visible be-
cause the two kinds of text were in the same place.
[When 1 had checked my work by selecting the text

REAL TEXT AND PAINT TEXT 295

with the Text tool, it had selected the real text; if I
had tried selecting it using the selection rectangle, it
would have selected the Paint version.)

By the way, don't automatically discard the possibility
of using this "archaic" method of showing a "pop-
up" field by creating and going to a second card that
mimics the original with the addition of a box of ad-
ditional text. Although real card fields as pop-up
fields are great, you can't use any visual effects when
you display them, nor can you include pictures in a
pop-up field. Sometimes it's worth creating an addi-
tional card to get those effects.

Lining Things
Up

It might not seem important whether a picture on one
card lines up exactly with a picture on another— not
until you move between the cards and watch the pic-
ture jump around on the page. If the pictures are even
one pixel askew, the effect can be jarring when you
move between the cards.

For example, you might want some Paint text to ap-
pear in a box on a number of cards. You haven't put
the text in the Background picture, because it appears
only on a few cards. Instead, you're going to add it
to the card picture on just the cards that need it.

If you copy the text from one card and then paste it
onto subsequent cards, it will automatically be placed
in the same spot you copied it from, so it will line up
without your having to do anything. There are also a
number of other ways to keep Paint text in line, as
seen below.

296

CHAPTER 7 PRACTICAL HYPERCARD TRICKS

Lining up
Paint Text

One of the problems with using Paint text rather than
real text is that it's difficult to get Paint text lined
up with other text on the card you've already
typed — either real text or Paint text. Here's a trick
to help,

1. Type the added Paint text.

2. Select it by pressing Command-S.

3. Make it transparent by choosing Transparent {or
just typing "T" if you have Power Keys checked in
the Options menu),

4. Move the selection over the existing text until it
lines up with what you want to line it up with.

5. Hold down the Shift key while you drag the se-
lected text to a new location. Holding the Shift key
down while you move the text constrains it to the
same horizontal or vertical plane so that it will Une
up neatly with the existing text.

Fixing mistakes

There's another Paint text trick that also comes in
handy: If you want to add something to a line of
Paint text or correct an error at the end or the begin-
ning of a line, follow this procedure:

1. Use the eraser to get rid of the error.

2. Retype the addition, including one or two charac-
ters that you're not replacing.

Figure 7.13 shows the error erased and the
new text ready to drag over.

REAL TEXT AND PAINT TEXT

297

FIGURE 7-13 tixin}; a Patnt text mistake

3. Make the text transparent and drag it over the
original text until the duphcated characters match ex-
actly. The new text now hnes up exacdy with the old.

Lining up heads

Sometimes you want to match the position of heads
that are different in content but appear in the same
place on more than one card. This happens automat-
ically with real text, for the fields are in exactly the
same position on each card and so the text within the
fields lines up. But when youVe using Paint text, the
fields appear wherever you click, making it very dif-
ficult to get them in the same position on more than
one card. For example, each of the topic cards in the
HyperCard Help system (the cards you see when you
press the tabs along the bottom of the screen such as

298

CHAPTER 7 PRACTICAL HYPERCARD TRICKS

Browse or Copy) uses Paint text (so it won't be
searched and because the text size I wanted to use
wasn't necessarily included in everyone's System file).

Here's the method I used to get the text on each card
to line up with the text on the other topic cards: 1
selected and copied a head from one card to the next,
^ thus pasting it into the exact relative position. Then 1

retyped the original head on the second card (even
though this was the wrong text for the second card),
poking around with the mouse until I got the inser-
tion point at the exact right spot to match the char-
acters. (The small crossbar on the Paint text I-beam
pointer helps you find the baseline of the Paint text.)
I backspaced to the beginning of the heading and
typed the correct text for that card. Although this
sounds a little picky and difficult, it's really pretty easy
after youVe done it a few times. And its amazing
how good you can get at predicting where to click to
get the insertion point in the right place.

If you really want to make it easy on yourself, use
real text in a field. And let HyperCard worry about
fining it up for you.

Combining Paint text and real text

You can't combine text styles within a single field of
structured text. But you can use Paint text within a
field. For example, if you wanted to show a single
word in boldface, you could leave the amount of
space required for the word by pressing the space bar
a number of times, and then use Paint text with the
style choice you want in the space left. You probably
won't want to do this with text that's meant to be
edited, because every time you change anything in the
field, the Paint text won't word wrap and you'll find
yourself constandy having to come back to it, select

VISUAL EFFECTS 299

it with the selection rectangle, and move it to where
it should be.

Aligning
Pictures You
Cut and Paste

Pictures you cut and paste in HyperCard stay in the
same relative position that they were cut or copied
from. This means that lining things up from card to
card is a snap. (You can also move the pasted selec-
tion to another part of the screen if you don't want it
to be in the original position.)

Visual Effects

Because it's so easy to browse cards, you'll want to
learn to move gracefully between them. How the
screen looks while you're going from one card to an-
other can greatly affect the "feel" of the stacks you
create. Below are a few effects that work well;

zoom out

iris dose
zoom in

dissolve
Venetian blinds

wipe up or down
checkerboard

Going from a topic in a list to
another card

Returning to the topic list
Returning to where the
mouse currently is
Picture to text

A spiffy effect you notice
most when there's a big con-
trast between the cards
Movement from the bottom
up or top down
Noticed most when there's a
lot of contrast

300

CHAPTER 7 PRACTTCAl. HYPERCARD TRICKS

barn door open

Unfolds from the center, like
CLirtiiins parting
Folds back up again

barn door close

The visual effect always precedes a Go command in
a script, as shown in these lines:

visual effect barn door open
Go Home

In general, use the same effect for parallel actions.
Topics in a Tiible of Coments or other launching
place should be uniform. For example, each topic on
the HyperCard Help topic cards zooms out. This
consistency helps the user feel more sure about where
he or she is; it provides a famihar framework. Simi-
larily, you might have a return button always zoom
in on returning ro a topic list.

Dissolves are good for leaving graphic images, espe-
cially for going from a fairly dark, dense picture to a
lighter one or to a card of text. Use Wipe up or down
for flipping pages. Use Barn door open and shut for
opening pages from the center of the screen — espe-
cially if you're using a "two-page" layout that looks
like an open book. Use special effects such as check-
erboard and Venetian blinds sparingly.

The visual effect command can also include special
effects you add using the word "to" in the script:

visual effect zoom open to blacK
visual effect zoom open to white
visual effect zoom open to gray
visual effect zoom open to card

(to stay on the same card rather than using the next
Go command to go to a different card.)

Follow any of these special effects with the usual Go j
command.

ANIMATION

301

Animation

Because HyperCard can move among cards so fast,
you can produce animation by displaying a set of
cards in sequence, much like a movie cartoon. The
down side of this technique is that you have to store
a complete picture for each tiny change you make.
But if you have plenty of disk space to spare, it works.

Here's the basic technique;

1. Draw a picture.

2. Copy the entire picture to another card by double-
chcking the selection rectangle, choosing Copy Pic-
ture from the Edit menu, choosing New Card from
the Edit menu, and choosing Paste Picture from the
Edit menu.

3. Make a small change to the second picture. (The
difference between the two images becomes the
animation.)

4. Copy the altered picture and paste it onto another
new card.

5. Modify this new image and continue in this same
way until you have the entire sequence of images,
each on a separate card.

6. If the cards aren't in the order you want the images
displayed, use the Cut Card command and cut and
paste the cards into the order you want them.

7. If you want to have the sequence back up the orig-
inal image, copy and paste images from existing cards
to new ones in reverse order.

8. Create a background button that goes to the next
card to move among the images, adding any visual
effects you want to happen along the way.

302

CHAPTER 7 PRACTICAL HYPERCARD TRICKS

Creating animation by moving among cards eats stor-
age space because each separate image you use has to
store the entire card picture. Here are a couple of
tricks that can save you some space:

Use a background picture to show the parts of the
animation that are constant. For example, if you
want to animate a car driving down the road, you
might use the entire road scene as the background
picture and store the pictures of the car in different
locations on card pictures. Use the Go command to
show the cards in order— giving the illusion that the
car is moving down the road.

You can also create animation within a single card.
Heres a script that uses screen coordinates (the hori-
zontal and vertical position on the screen) to animate
an object on the screen. When you click Frog Jump,
HyperCard runs a script that makes a frog jump
around the screen. See Figure 7.14.

on rnouseDp

put the userLevel into saveLevel
set userLevel to 3

If the userLevel < 3 then exit rnouseDp
choose lasso tool

clickat^^ejEH-^ with comm a ndKey -select the
nfrog

set dragSpeed to '^DU

playboingcefgdce

drag from ^<S,e'3';to3fl5,Eai

drag from 3fl5,EDl to33a,Eqt

drag from 33D,3qbto3aij,l3t

drag from 351, 13t, to m&,aa&

drag from l.'^a,aafltoll';,5fl

drag from lL<,5flto3t,,a'3fc>

drag from 3b,Eqt,tolsq,l<3

drag from lHR,l'^3to3a5,2ti

drag from 3QS,5LA to ^3^,183

drag from A3^,l&3 to

click at □ , D — remove the selection

doMenu "Revert"

ANIMATION 303

* File Edit Go Tools Objects

Drag ■ ■

Form Drag from h. v to h, v [with sBIIlXey | optionKey |
commandKeyl

What it does The same as if you had dragged manually

Available with an/ tool See also the click command ♦

Examples Choose line tcol

Drag Irom 100, 200 to 150, 250--you don't need to

—click Iirst

[ F'"Pg Ji""P J choose select tool

— drag Irom 430,260 to 440,290

FIGURE 7-14 The Frog jump hiittoii shows you how to animate. Voi* can use the
Button tool to open the button's script.

set userLevel to saveLevel
choose browse tool
end itiouseUp

In this script the user level must be at 3 or above to
be able to use the Paint tools. This script temporarily
sets the user level to 3 — the first level at which the
Painting tools are available — saving the "real"
userLevel in the variable "saveLevel." If HyperCard
isn't able to set the userLevel to 3 (if there's not
enough memory, for example), the script is exited and
the frog doesn't jump. "SaveLevel" is put back into
the actual userLevel at the end of the script. In gen-
eral, it's a good idea to put things back the way you
found them in HyperCard. Temporarily changing the
user level allows the script to work no matter what
user level is set on the Preferences card of the Home
stack. The user level is set to 3 just while the script is

304

CHAPTER 7 I PRACTICAL HYPERCARD TRICKS

running, and then it's set back when the script is
finished.

After the script sets the necessary user level, it chooses
the Lasso tool. Holding down the Command key
while clicking at a spot with the lasso lassos any pic-
ture that's sitting at that spot. So the line "click ar
442,294 with commandKey" selects the picture of the
frog. (You can also click, drag, or type "with
ShiftKey" or "with OprionKey" to produce whatever
would happen if you held one of those keys down
while you clicked, typed, or dragged.)

The next line sets the speed for the dragging. Exper-
imentation is the best way to see what speed to set.
The speed is in pixels per second for each drag state-
ment. Between 200 and 800 is the usual range, but
there's no actual limit to the speed you can set. Click-
ing at 0,0 removes the selection so that the following
Revert command will revert the entire card. Now the
user level is set back to the level saved at the begin-
nmg of the script and the script chooses the Browse
tool.

Hmt

Always put things back the way you found them.

Keeping Track of
Buttons

While you're working on a stack, you can keep track
of buttons under construction or use large back-
ground buttons to provide a default action.

KEEPING TRACK OF BUTTONS

305

File Edil Go Tools Object!

^ 4i 1* ^ ^ b ^ ^ b iT^ ^ ^ Ij .U 'i ^ U iTT

Painting

Tools menu

Painting on cards

□ To see the Tools menu L

□ Painting on cards | Euiting and pastlii^

□ Cutting and pasting pictures '

□ Selecting and changing a picture

□ Editing the background picture

□ Opaque or transparent?

FIGURE 7-15 Keeping track of buttons. The buttons are temporarily named to
show where they're linked.

Buttons
Under

Construction

Keep track of burtons under construction (or recon-
struction) by naming them with their function and
clicking Show Name. This keeps them visible and you
can see what they do without opening their scripts.
Later you can click Show Name again to make them
not display their name. Figure 7.15 shows some but-
tons labeled with their function tcmporarilv while the
card is undet construction. That way you can see
what each button does without opening its script.

306

CHAPTER 7 I PRACTICAL HYPERCARD TRICKS

Card or

Background

Buttons

It's easy to place a button in the wrong place. The
most common mistake is to place a button (or a field)
on a single card when you meant to place it in the
background. But it's also easy to discover and fix the
problem. To see if a button is in the card or the back-
ground, choose Background from the Edit menu. Or
just go to the next card and see if the button's there —
if it is, it's a background button (unless the next card
has a different background). Move any card button
into the background or vice-versa by selecting the
button with the Button tool, choosing Cut, choosing
Background, and choosing Paste Button.

Creating Big
Background
Buttons

You might decide to use a convention that clicking
near the outside edges of a card brings you Home.
Make a large, invisible button that covers the entire
card. (You can make it invisible by dragging the top
left corner to "tuck it under" the menubar and then
dragging the bottom right corner down and to the
right.) Make this large button's destination the Home
card. Select the burton and choose Send Farther until
the button is at the very back of all your burtons.
Now whenever you click outside of all other buttons,
the large button will take you Home.

KEEPING YOUR STACKS PRIVATE 307

Controlling Headers . .

If you're creating a stack with headings or chapter
title, having the text for that element in its own field
means you can change the characteristics of all the
text in the field — every chapter name or every first-
level head on every card that shares the background,
for example — by selecting the field and changing it in
just one place. Every chapter title or every first-level
head that shares the background changes. This is
quite different from using most word processors,
where you have to separately select and change the
characteristics of each separate head.

Keeping Your Stacks
Private

Here's a way to disguise what you're doing, so if you
keep HyperCard in a public place you can still have
your privacy. HyperCard lets you protect stacks with
passwords by choosing Protect Stack from the File
menu and checking Private Access so that you can
officially prevent access to any of your private stacks.
But there's another way to keep your work from ca-
sual public view. You can "hide" stacks by making a
screen shot {Command-Shift-3) of a spreadsheet or
any other application. Make the spreadsheet be the
Home card picture by copying the MacPaint docu-
ment produced by Command-Shift-3 and pasting it
onto the card. Whenever you go Home in Hyper-
Card, you'll see the spreadsheet. You can then "hide"
your buttons to various stacks in some of the spread-
sheet's cells. Figure 7. 1 6 shows a picture of the Finder

308

CHAPTER 7 I PRACTICAL HYPERCARD TRICKS

' * riie Idit U

iem Special

FIGURE 7-16 Using a fiicture of the Finder to hide HyperCard. Each icon can be
a button that takes you somewhere.

being used as a Home card. Buttons in this "Finder"
could lurk in the Finder's icons.

Using Pop-up Fields

Any background or card field can be alternately hid-
den and shown on a parricular card to create the ef-
fect of a pop-up field. You can hide it or show it using
the "hide" and "show" commands. Pop-up fields are
great for adding a little bit of extra information (es-
pecially when you're out of space on the card, as 1
often was in the Help system, or when the extra in-
formation would detract from getting your main
point across). You can also use pop-up fields to give
alternative responses to actions the user takes, or to
provide clues in an adventure game, for example. You

USING POP-UP FIELDS 309

File Edit Go Tools

HyperTalk: the HyperCard language

□ Introducti on to HyperT alk

□ Messags

□ Scripts

□ Basic cor

□ Contnine

□ NBmes

□ Searchir

□ Script hi

□ Message

□ Who has control

□ A script that explains itself

□ Other control stroctures

To be able to use
HyperTalk to see and edit
scripts, check the
Scripting User Level on
the last card in the Home
stack. fHiT]

□ Commands
ions
ants
itors
bles
irties

■m messages
al objects

FIGURE 7-17 A pop-up field you can hide or show

can use pop-up fields as "About" boxes, telling the
world who created this stack. Or put a footnote in a
pop-up field.

You can show or hide a field depending on the
userLevel set on the Preferences card or with the Pro-
tect Stack command. (HyperCard always keeps track
of both the user level you set on the Preferences card
and any that's set for the specific stack. It uses the
lower of the two levels.) For example, I wanted to
keep new users from accidentally wandering into the
HyperTalk section of Help. I used the following script
in the card that checks the current userLevel setting
before displaying the card field (shown in Figure
7.17):

on openCard

get the userlevel

if it is < 5 then show card field 1
end openCard

310

CHAPTER 7 PRACTICAL HYPERCARD TRICKS

You can use the Answer command as an alert mes-
sage {the Answer command presents a one-line state-
ment with up to three responses in buttons). But you
might also use a pop-up field in place of the Answer
command. Pop-up fields don't have the space limita-
tions of the Answer command (approximately 1 line
of text is all you can fit with the Answer command)
and you can use any text style in a pop-up field,
rather than being limited to the Chicago System font.

To hide a field, type into the message box or script:
Hide field " flGldName"

To show the field again, type:
Show field " f leldName"

Include the word "card" if it's a card field:
Show card field " f ieldName"

Fields are shown until you hide them, and they're hid-
den until you show them. Remember that a back-
ground field has separate text on each card, so you
can use a single background field for many cards'
pop-up field. But sometimes you want the field to
have a different look on different cards — a different
font, border, size, etc. In this case it's better to use a
card field. Card fields and background fields take
about the same amount of space and are equally fast,
but if you're using many identical card fields within
the same stack, it would save you some space to use
a background field instead.

In the Help system topic cards I used transparent but-
tons over Paint text for each topic. Most of the but-
tons take you to other cards in the Help system, but
some, such as "To see the Tools menu" just show a
pop-up field that explains about the subject.

USING POP-UP FIELDS 311

This button's script shows the card field whenever
you click the button:

on mouseup
show card field I

show button OK — "OK" is the button ' s name
end mouseUp

The OK button sits on top of the card field. Its button
script says:

on mousGOp

hide button OK

hide card field 1
end mouseUp

To show a field when the pointer is positioned over a
button (without cUcking it) the button's script would
say:

on mouseEnter

show button OK

show card field 1.
end mouseEnter

on mouseLeave

hide button OK

hide card field 1
end mouseLeave

This script shows a field only while the mouse is still
down (when you release the mouse button, the script
goes away):

on mouseStillDown

show button OK

show card field 1
end mouseStillDown

on mouseup

hide button OK

hide card field l
end mouseUp

312

CHAPTER 7 I PRACTICAL HYPERCARD TRICKS

Sorting Tricks

In the example in Chapters 4 and 6 you used a sep-
arate field for the phone numhcr. You could then sort
your client stack by phone number by sorting by that
field. Just add this line to the script:

sort ascending by field "phone number"

You don't have to have something in a separate field
in order to sort by it. HyperCard lets you sort by any
word in any line of any field. For example, you might
sort an address list by the last word in the last line of
the address field to sort by zip code. You could do the
same thing with phone numbers or any other element
of a list. You do need to keep these elements m a
consistent order on cards — phone number always on
line 5, for example — to have this work correcdy.

Creating a
Hidden Field
to Sort By

You can always use Cut Card and Paste Card to
move an entire card from one place to another. But if
you're doing massive reorganizadons of many cards
in the stack, its sometimes useful to create a tempo-
rary field to use just for sorting. Create the field, type
numbers or letters into it in the order you want the
cards ro be in the stack, create a button with a script
that sorts the cards by that field. You can copy the
Sort button from the button collection and modify it
to do exactly the right thing. When you've got the
cards sorted, delete the field, or hide it by typing Hide
field "fieldName" in the iMessage box. It will disap-
pear until you tell HyperCard to show it using the
Show command.

SUMMARY 313

Summary

This chapter has shown you a bagful of tricks you
can use when designing your own stacks. The next
chapter will mtroduce and explain some useful scripts
you can add as they are or modify to do something a
little different.

Chapter 8

"Most programming
languages come data-
empty. You define or
type in all of the data
you ivant to manipu-
late. In HyperCard
you start with
thousafids of ivords,
cards, and pictures.

And you can see
them. Programming
is mitch easier ivhen
you can see all of the
data."
Ted Kaehler

Hooked on Scripts

on »Ci>-lUp
gctHornainro

•nd startup

pan n

■ 'CnO, If pr«.

Ti gatHomalnrD
global ftDchk.oppI iCdtlom.docuinanEt.ukarriK*
Mt lockSc'**" lo tnj»
t>1 lsckri»BaQH lo Ln-*
IhijP th I ■ cord

90 lo cord ■■U»«r Prar*^«n:«- or Hock "Moina"
put Cord <\»\a "U»r nam* inlo uwriana
sat u>*rL«'-»i to cflrd fiald "lHar Lm!"

This chapter is a compendium of useful scripts, with explanations of
what they do and how you might modify them to do something
shghtly different. Reading an existing script is one of the best ways to
learn how to write your own scripts. You can start by using the script

INHERITANCE

exactly as it is. Then you might modify it by changing
details such as visual effects or text to search for.

Seeing how a script is put together can also be helpful
in a genera! way by showing how commands and
control struaures work together to cause HyperCard
actions.

Note: The on mouseUp/end mouseUp control struc-
ture is used in many of these examples, but these
scripts could be in response to any message. Each
message has a handler that begins with "on <mes-
sage name>" and ends with "end<message name>."

Where to Put a Script

In general, place a message handler script where it
will reach all of the objects that you want to be able
to respond to the message it handles but no more. For
example, if you want just one button to respond to
the message mouseUp, put the script in that button.
If you want some but not all of the buttons on a card
to respond, duplicate the script for the buttons you
want to respond. If you want clicking anywhere on
the card to activate the handler, put the handler in the
card's script, etc.

Inheritance

Messages are sent and received according to a set of
inheritance rules. Every object that receives a mes-
sage, either from the system or from another object,
has a chance to respond to that message with a mes-
sage handler. If the object doesn't have a handler for
that message, the message is passed on to the next

316

CHAPTER 8 HOOKED ON SCRIPTS

larger object, which then has its chance to respond.
The message is automatically passed through the en-
tire path of objects in this same way. Each receiving
object has its chance to respond.

A receiving object can also pass a message on to the
next object even though it has already handled the
message. To do this, the handler's script ends with the
line:

pass <[iiessage>

The message (such as mouseUp) is then passed on to
the next object as though it had never been caught.

You can also "break the rules" of inheritance using
the send command to send a message to a particular
object that might not be in the normal inheritance
path:

send <itiessage> to <object>

For example, you might say "send mouseUp to but-
ton 3" in the script for button 2. In this case, when
the user clicked button 2, button 2 would catch it
with an "on mouseUp" message handler, execute any
script in the handler, and then pass the mouseUp mes-
sage on to button 3, which might contain its own
mouseUp handler. The basic difference between pass
and send is that pass sends the message along the nor-
mal route and send breaks the inheritance rules by
sending it to any object within the current stack.

You can also go to distant objects (objects on any
card, background, or stack other than the current
one) by using the Go command to go to the card
whose buttons, fields, card, background, or stack you
want to get the message. Once you're at the card you
want, inheritance works just as it always does, using

INHERITANCE 317

* File Edit Go Tools Objects

Message inheritance

rield scrip!

Card scripi

Bac^erpufid script

Stack jcnpf

STBch resource

I Home script '

Home rajouroe

I HyperCard

Bunon script

irthe object That hoJds a
JcripT hes a dilTerenl
inheriiance path from
the inhenTflnce paih of
Ihe currenl cord tlhis
may happen if the script
goes TO B dlfTorenT card),
HyperCard Tallovs both
pathi-firsT the f cripi'r
otjecCs path and Then
Ihe curr^i card's.

reni

■fr

FIGURE 8- 1 The Inheritance path. Alt system messages are sent to the current
card or an object on the card such as a button or field. If the
receiving object doesn't have a handler for the message n is sent to
the next larger object in the path, ivhich tbci has a chance to
respond to the message with a handler. Messages can also be sent
among objects using the send or pass control structures, which
send the message to a particular object or pass it on to the next
object in the normal hierarchy.

the path of the current card and then in addition
checking the path of the object the original script is
in.

Figure 8.1 shows the inheritance path of objects in
HyperCard. The same inheritance is used for any
message — including messages the system sends, such
as mouseUp or openCard, functions, and messages
you define yourself using other HyperTalk commands
and functions. In addition, developers can define ex-
ternal commands by using another programming lan-
guage, such as C or Pascal, to build a module that
can be attached to any stack or to the HyperCard

318

CHAPTER 8 HOOKED ON SCRIPTS

application itself. These are treated just like any com-
mand in HyperCard, following the same Inheritance
path.

System Messages and
What Triggers Them

System messages are sent in response to actions the
user takes; use the message that corresponds to the
conditions you want responded to. Here's a list of the
system messages, which objects they're sent to ini-
tially, and when they're sent;

Message

mouseDown

mouseStillDown

mouseUp

Sent to

the frontmost object
(field, button, or card)
at the location clicked
the frontmost object
(field, button, or card)
at the location clicked
the frontmost object
(field, button, or card)
at the location clicked

When

when mouse button
pressed

continuously while the
mouse button is being
pressed

when mouse button is
pressed and released.
The message is sent to
a button or field only
if the mouse button is
both pressed and re-
leased over the object.

SYSTEM MESSAGES AND WHAT TRIGGERS THEM

319

jCTII IO

n€wB Litton

IIIC itcwiy Licaicu DUt-

ton

deleteBucton

the button being de-

jetcu

mouseEnter

the frontmost field or

button under pointer

mouseWithin

the frontmost field or

button under pointer

mouseLeave

the frontmost field or

button under pointer

newField

the newly created field

deleteField

the field being deleted

openField ■

the field being clicked

closeField

■ in

the field recently ed-

ited (sent only when

there's a change)

new(„ara

the newly created card

deleteCard

the card being deleted

openCard

the current card

closeCard

the current card

startup

the first card in the

, Home stack if applica-

tion itself is started or

the first card in any

stack started directly

from the Finder

When

when created

just before button is
deleted

when the mouse
pointer enters a button
or field

continuously while the
mouse pointer is over
a button or field
when the mouse
pointer enters a button
or field
when created
just before field is de-
leted

just before it gets its
insertion point
when you click some-
where else or leave the
card

when created
just before card is de-
leted

when card becomes
visible

just before going to
another card
when HyperCard is
opened

320

CHAPTER 8 HOOKED ON SCRIPTS

Sent to

wnen

idle

the

current

card

continuously while

nothing else is happen-

ing

returnKey

the

current

card

when the Return key

is pressed

enterKey

the

current

card

when the Enter key is

pressed

tabKey

the

current

card

when the Tab key is

pressed

arrowKeyLeft

the

current

card

when the left arrow

key is pressed

arrowKey Right

the

current

card

when the right arrow

key is pressed

arrowKeyUp

the

current

card

when the up arrow

key is pressed

arrowKeyDown

the

current

card

when the down arrow

key is pressed

newBackground

the

current

card

when the background

is created

delcteBackground

the

current

card

when only one card in

a background, sent

just before that card is

deleted

openBackground

the

current

card

when a card of this

background becomes

visible after being in

another background

closeBackground

the

current

card

just before going to a

card with a different

background

newStack

the

first card in the

when the stack is cre-

new stack

ated

deletes tack

the

current

card

just before it's deleted

openStack

the

first card in the

when the stack is

stack

opened

A MOMENT IN THE LIFE OF HYPERTALK

321

Message Sent to

doseStack the current card

help the current card

suspend the current card

resume the card you return to

(the one you left) after
opening another appli-
cation

quit the current card

When

just before going to a
card in another stack
or quitting HyperCard
when you choose Help
from the Go menu or
press Command-?
when you open an-
other application from
HyperCard using the
Open command
when you return to
HyperCard

when you quit
HyperCard by choos-
ing Quit from the File
menu or pressing
Command-Q

A Moment in the Life of
HyperTal]<

Here is an imaginary stream of consciousness of what
the HyperTalk interpreter does while you're looking
at a card on the screen:

Send idle to the current card, send idle to the current
card, send idle to the current card, . . . Oh, the mouse
moved. Did it move over a button or field? It did, so

322

CHAPTER 8 HOOKED ON SCRIPTS

send mouseEnter to that button. Send mouseWithin,
send idle, send mouseWithin, send idle, . . . Did the
mouse button go down? It did, so send mouseDown
to the button. Send mouseStillDown, send mouse-
StillDown, . . . Oh, the button went up! Send
mouseUp to the button. Ah, the button has a handler
for mouseUp in its script. Let's see, what do these
commands say to do. . . ? Go to stack "Address."
That means we're leaving this stack. Send closeCard,
send close Background, send closeStack. Look for
that other stack. What folder is it in, anyway? OK,
bring in the first card, send openStack, send open-
Background, send openCard. What's the next state-
ment in that script we were executing? Ah, the
mouseUp script is over. Is the pointer over any but-
tons or fields in the new card? It's not, so send idle,
send idle, send idle, . . .

For each of the messages it sent, HyperTalk searched
the endre inheritance chain to see if any of the scripts
had a handler for that message.

Scripts You Can Use

The rest of this chapter contains sample scripts to try
in your own stacks. Each script is presented in full
with some comments inserted within the script (all
comments follow "--") and an explanation following
the script. When the explanation is more extensive,
specific lines of the script are repeated with an expla-
nation of that line following.

SCRIPTS YOU CAN USE 323

Choosing a
Command

You can do just about anything you can do manually
in HyperCard from a script as well. For example, you
can choose any command from a HyperCard menu
using the HyperTalk command DoMenu.

on raouseUp

aoMenu New Card — to a&A a card following the current card
end mouseup

When HyperCard encounters two hyphens in a row,
it ignores the rest of the line. This is how you insert
comments into your scripts, to help you or others
who read the script remember what the script is
doing. Including comments in your scripts makes it
much easier for other people to interpret and modify
them for their own use.

Choosing a
Tool

You can also choose a tool from within a script. The
drag command in this script moves the button from
the center of button 1 (loc is the center horizontal and
vertical screen coordinates) to a new location.

on mouseup

choose button tool

drag from the loc of button 1 to ED0,E5Q
end raouseUp

"the loc" is the center of the button. Button 1 could
be adjusted to any button name or number.
"299,250" is its new horizontal and vertical screen
coordinate position.

324

CHAPTER 8 HOOKED ON SCRIPTS

Hint

An item is a group of characters, including spaces,
separated by commas. It is larger than a character
and can be larger than a word, but smaller than a
line.

on mouseUp

choose field tool — work on the field itself, not the teict
click at loc of field 1 --select the field
doMenu Text Style. . .
choose Browse tool
end mouseUp

DoMenu Text Style displays the Text dialog. Make
sure there really is a background field so this script
can work on it. Making choices in the dialog box is
one thing you can't do from a script. You can set the
properties of a field, however, using the form "Set
<property> of <field>." Add some text to field 1 to
see this script change its font. For example:

on mouseup

choose Browse tool --edit text

click at the loc of field 1. — click in center of field
set textFont of field 1 to Chicago
set texts ize of field 1. to
end mouseup

In the following script, the contents of field 1 is au-
tomatically typed into field 2 (First, create field 2 so
there's someplace for the text to go.):

on mouseup

choose Browse tool

click at loc of field ^ --get an insertion point in the middle line of

— field a

type field 1 — as if you typed what is in field 1 into field E
end mouseUp

SCRIPTS YOU CAN USE 325

And this script draws rectangles:

on mouseUp

choose rect tool — for ma}cinc) rectangles

set filled to true — change a propetty-they will be filled with
— pattern

set pattern to 12 --patterns are numbered from 1 to 1? starting at

— the top left corner of the Pattern window
drag from iaQ,1.5D to 500,250 — draw the rect from top left to bottom

— right

end mouseUp

Every tool has an official name. "Rect" is the rectan-
gle tool. And every pattern has a number, starting
from the top left of the pattern window, going across
the first row and similarly left to right across each

row.

Tools include:

browse tool
button tool
field tool
select tool
lasso tool
pencil tool
brush tool

eraser tool
line tool
spray tool
rectangle tool
round rect tool
bucket tool
oval tool

curve tool
text tool
regular polygon

tool
polygon tool

Searching a
Script for
Text

Here's a script that searches for text within scripts —
something you might do to change all occurrences of

326

CHAPTER S HOOKED ON SCRIPTS

an object's name to a different name youVe given it,
for example.

The Get command puts whatever follows into the lo-
cal variable "it." "Pattern" is a variable that repre-
sents the text you're looking for. It's the first
argument in this message. Whenever there's more
than one argument, you separate them by commas
(no spaces required) so HyperTalk can tell where the
first argument ends and the second argument begins.
By the way, the things in a list that are separated by
commas are items, just as the horizontal and vertical
coordinates in the examples above.

This script is included in the HyperCard Home stack,
so it's available anywhere in HyperCard as long as
you're using the original Home stack. (Messages are
sent to the Home stack after they've made the route
through the current card, background, and stack.)

on searchScript pattern , stackName
— search all scripts of a stack

if stackName Is not empty then go to stackNarae

get script of stack

if it contains pattern then edit script of stack — start the script
— editor if the pattern is contained in this script

repeat with 1 = 1, to thenuuiberof bkgnds — cycle through the
backgrounds

go to card 1 of bkgnd 1 — show a card of this background
get script of bkgnd

if it contains pattern then edit script of bkgnd

repeat with ]= 1 to the number of bkgnd buttons — all background

— buttons

get script of bkgnd button j
If It contains pattern
then edit script of bkgnd button J
end repeat i ,, ,

SCRIPTS YOU CAN USE 327

repeat with j = 1 to the number of bkgtid fields — all background

--fields

get script of bkgnd field j

if it contains pattern then edit script of bkgnd field ^
end repeat

end repeat — finished with the backgrounds

repeat with i = 1 to the number of cards — go through all cards

— individually

go card i

get script of this card

if it contains pattern then edit script of this card

repeat with J = 1 to the number of card buttons — the buttons on
• - • . , . . this

— card

get script of card button ]

if it contains pattern then edit script of card b''utton j
end repeat

repeat with ] = 3, to the number of card fields — the card specific

— fields

get script of card field ]

if it contains pattern then edit script of card field j
end repeat

end repeat — finished with the cards
end searchScript

Whatever piece of text you supply as the first argu-
ment is stored in the local variable "pattern" and the
program searches all scripts for that text. If you leave
off the stack name, the script searches scripts in the
current stack. "Edit script" is a command that opens
an object's script so that you can edit it. "Repeat with
i = 1 to the number of bkgnds" is a control structure
that steps through each of the backgrounds. This pro-
cess is known as a "loop." It temporarily assigns the
number of each background in turn to "i," so you can
refer to the background within that part of the script.

328 CHAPTER 8 HOOKED ON SCRIPTS

To execute the SearchScript script from the Message
box, you might type:

SearchScript "button"', Hoire

When you press the Return or Enter key, HyperCard
goes through each bcript within the Home stack,
stopping to open any script that contains the word
"button." Once in a script, you can type Command-
F to see a dialog box where you can specify the text
you are kioking for within the script. In this case
you'd type "button" and then press the Return key to
search the current script. When you click the OK but-
ton, HypetCard continues looking through subse-
quent scripts, opening in turn each script that
contains the wotd "button." Type Command-period
to stop searching.

Finding
Backgrounds

If you're doing a project that has many backgrounds,
you often want to go to each background to make
the same change everywhere. For example, in the
Help system, whenever I changed my mind about
what should be on the tabs along the bottom of the
cards, I wanted to make that change in each of the
20 or so backgrounds' background picture. 1 put this
simple message handler into the stack script of my
Home stack so that tvping "hk" into the Message box
would take me to the next background in the stack.

on bk ■ ■

go to first card of next background
end bk

SCRIPTS YOU CAN USE 329

You could also add another line to save yourself some
more work:

on bk

go to first card of next background
doMenu Background
end bk

This would not only take you to the next back-
ground, but choose Background from the Edit menu
so that you could work on the background.

Merging
Stacks

There are times when you want to consolidate two
stacks into one. For example, you might want to add
your office Address stack to one you keep at home.
You can do this "manually" by cutting and pasting
text or cards one by one. Or you could merge the
stacks using this script. Once the stacks are merged
together, you can delete any duplicate cards and re-
sort them using one of the Sort buttons. This script is
based on one by Mike Farr. No links from other
cards to the cards that are moved are carried with
them when they move, so don't use this script to
move individually linked cards.

on mouseup

global ToStack — global variable for name of destiQation stack
global FromStack --global variable for name source stack
put "Merge appends a copy of one stack to the end of another."
ask "Copy cards from stack:" with 'i<stack name here>"
put it into FromStack

ask "Append cards to end of stack:" with "-'stack name here>"
put it into ToStack

answer "Append stack" & quote 8, FrotnStack S quote & "to" & quote ~1
S ToStack & quote & "?" with "Yes, Merge" or "Cancel"
if it = "Cancel" then exit mouseUp --glue the user a chance to bail

— out

330 CHAPTER 8 HOOKED ON SCRIPTS

go to Htack From Stack , ^ „ c-^ i,

LpeatfoE the number of cards -stop at last card of FromStack

doHenu "copy card"

qo next card —go to next card to copy
put the long ID of this card into other —remember it
go to last card of stack ToStack —paste card at end of stack
doPlenu "paste card"
go other —go to next card to copy
end repeat

go to stack ToStack --go to beginning of ToStack

put "MergeComplete! You ' re at the beg inn ing of stack" &ToStacK

end mousenp

The first portion of the script asks the user the name
of the two stacks to move cards between. The middle
portion shuttles back and forth between the stacks,
copying a card in one and pasting it into the other.
The last portion goes to the completed stack and tells
the user the program is finished.

The global command makes a variable accessible
from anywhere in HyperCard. In this case it's being
used to make the access to the names of the stacks
faster.

Let's examine the middle of the script. The current
card is in the 'Trom" stack.

repeat for the number of cards —stop at last card of FromStack
doHenu "copy card"

go next card — go to next card to copy
put the long ID of this card into other --remember it
go to last card of stack ToStack --paste card at end of stack
doMenu "paste card"
go other — go to next card to copy
end repeat

The statements are repeated for as many times as
there are cards to move. Each time through, copy i

SCRIPTS YOU CAN USE 331

card from the "From" stack, go to the next card. Get
the complete name of this card (by ID number) and
put it into tbe local variable "other." Go over to the
end of the stack we are adding onto. Paste in the card
and then go to the card whose name we remembered
(hack in the first stack). This is the next card to copy,
and when the repeat loop goes back to the top again,
the first statement copies it.

Displaying
Windows on
a Large
Screen

If you have a larger than normal screen, you may
want to automarically place the message window and
tool window outside the normal boundaries of the
HyperCard window. The message "startUp" is sent
to the current card when HyperCard starts up. You
can place the tool window where you want on the
screen. The first number (1 12) is the number of screen
dots from the left side (the horizontal coordinate),
and the second number is how far down (the vertical
coordinate). Don't use this script unless you have a
large screen. You could lose the Message box off the
bottom of your screen. . ,

Add these lines to both the startup and resume mes-
sage handlers in the stack script of the Home stack:

OQ startup

set loc of card window to lie , HyperCard uses absolute positions

— for the card window
set loc ofiiisgtoO,35Q — these positions are relative to the card

— window
set loc of tool window to -fla,3'1
show tool window

332

CHAPTER 8 HOOKED ON SCRIPTS

get Homelnfo
end startup

on resume

set loG of card window to 11E,^D
set loc of msg to 0,3^5
set loc of tool window to -fifl,3q
show tool window
get Homelnfo
end res Qme

To substitute horizontal and vertical screen coordi-
nates that you like better, place the windows at the
spot you want them by dragging them there and type
"the loc of msg" into the message box. Press the Re-
turn key to see the current location in the message
window. Copy that number and use it in the script
for the message window (msg). Do the same for the
other two windows.

A Spreadsheet

The HypcrCalc stack is a mini-sprcadshcct. Its in-
cluded here because it's an elegant example of the
kind of spare, clean code you can write in HyperTalk.
This script is executed whenever any information in
any of the fields on the card changes. Oan Winkler,
the author of HyperTalk, wrote this script.

on cioseField

repeat with i = 1 to the number of fields
get line 3 of field i — the formula

if it is not empty then put the value of it into line ? of field i
end repeat
end CioseField

SCRIPTS YOU CAN USE 333

The Target

In this example, a card contains many buttons. The
buttons themselves don't have scripts. Instead the
card script relies on the button names to go to the
right stack. (The names are showing.) None of the
buttons has a handler in it. If you click on the button,
mouseUp is sent to the button. But, because the but-
ton doesn't handle the message, it is sent to the card
that has this handler:

on mouseUp

if the target contains "button"

then go to stack the short name of the target

end mouseUp

"The target" is the name of the object that originally
received the message. For example, button "Address."
The first line asks if the target is a button (it could be
a field or this card). If it is a button, get the name of
the tatget ("short" means without the word "but-
ton"); the Get command puts it into it. Go to that
stack: the Address stack, in this case.

If the target does not contain the word "button,"
don't do the "then" part; just leave the mouseUp
handler.

Push and Pop
Card

We just saw how to get a "computed go." There is
another way. Often you want to make a note of
where you came from so that you can go back there
later. In the Address stack, for example, the return

334

CHAPTER 8 HOOKED ON SCRIPTS

arrow takes you back to where you were when you
entered the stack. In the stack script:

on openStack

push recent card — save the card you were ] us t on
end openStack

In the return button's script:

on itiouseUp

pop card — go to the last card we saved
end mouseUp

Push and pop use what is called a "push-down stack."
Not the stack of cards that we know, but an analogy
to what you find in cafeterias. The dinner plates are
stored in a device that lets you put a lot of plates in,
and then take the top plates out again.

'Tush recent card" puts the name of the card you
were just on at the top of the "stack" of remembered
cards. "Pop card" removes the top card name and
goes to that card.

See the Help system for a wrinkle on this. The on
openStack message handler in the Help stack script
decides if the recent card was inside or outside of the
Help system, and saves it in a global variable.

on OpenStack

global helpExit, crossRef Depth
push recent card
pop card Into it
if "help" is not in it then
put it into helpExit
put □ into crossRef Depth
end if
end openStack

The script in the Exit Help button uses the global
variable as a destination:

SCRIPTS YOU CAN USE 335

on mouseUp

global helpExlt

visual effect dissolve

go to helpExit
end mouseUp

Finding
Where a
Message Is
Defined

Put the following script in your Home stack. It allows
you to find the scripts that define any mysterious mes-
sage you find in another handler.

on def theHessage

put "on'i a & theHessage into pattern — search for "on kxx" which
— defines XXX ; run up the inheritance chain, lool^ingforit
if script of this card contains pattern then — start with the card ' s

— script

edit script of this card
exit def
end if

if script of this bltgnd contains pattern then

edit script of this bkgnd

exit def
end if

if the script of this stack contains pattern then
edit script of stack
exit def

end if ^

■ r

set lockScreen to true — check the Home script
push card — remember where we are
go to stack home

if script of this stack contains pattern then

set iockScreen to false we' 11 look at it

edit script of stack

pop card , ■ ■ '

ex it de f

end if ' ' ■ "

popcard --backtooriginalcard ' ..■> '

set IockScreen to false

336

CHAPTER 8 HOOKED ON SCRIPTS

if theMessaqe is in "add subtract multiply divide go play put f ind'i S S ~1
"open close read write convert visual effect do doMenu click drag" 8 & ~|
"type get set dial"

then put theMessage S& "is a HyperTalk commaad. See the Help system"
else put "It is not accessible from this card ( unless it is a XCHD )"
end def

Imagine you're in a script and you see a single com-
mand you don't understand. It was defined some-
where by the author of the stack, but you don't know
where. Close the script and type:

def startup

Press Return. The Home stack script will find the
script that defines the message.

An XCMD is an extension of the HyperCard lan-
guage made by writing Pascal or "C" code, compiling
it into a code resource, and installing it in a stack.
Commands defined in this way can't be discovered bv
the "def script.

Adding a
Card

The "New" button in the File Index stack does some
interesring things. It adds a new card and numbers it
one more than the last card in the stack. It also puts
a text insertion point in the first line of the main text
field so that you can type the entry without clicking
there.

on raouseUp

go to last card

get field "Index Number" — serial number of last card
doMenu "New Card"

put it + 1 into field "Index Number" — add 1 and insert in new card

SCRIPTS YOU CAN USE 337

choose browse tool

click at IGD — put a text insertion point on first line
end mouseUp

"It + 1" is number one larger that the serial number
of the previous card. We put that into field "Index
Number" of the new card. The coordinates were de-
termined by placing the pointer at the appropriate
spot on the screen, typing "the mouse loc" into the
Message box, and pressing Return.

If you want to get coordinates within a field, don't
click in the field, just move the mouse over it.

Plots

The buttons in the plots stack (you can get there from
the Home card) draw a bar graph, a stack of coins,
or a pie chart from a list of numbers in a field. The
script that follows is in the Coin button. There are
two handlers. The main one sends a message to ask
the other handler to compute the largest number in
the list. "What" is a parameter (or argument). It is a
value passed to the handler so it can be used. In this
case the variable called "what" contains the text
"field Data."

OQ mouseup

put the oserLeuel into saveLeuel

if the userLevel < 3 then set userLevel to 3 — Painting level
if the userLeuel < 3 then exit uouseUp — stack is protected or memory

--is low

clearScreen

reset paint --to be sure of starting conditions

choose oval tool

set lineSize to E

set filled to true

set cursor to A — the watchCursor

338 CHAl' I ER H HOOKED ON SCRIPTS

put frameLeft( ) into horlz --which pile to start on

put maxLinef field "Data" ) Into max Value — the tallest pile

putthenumberofllneslnfield "Data" into coins

if coins > 10 then

answer "Only the first ID data items can be plotted." with "OK"

put !□ into coins
end if

repeat with i ^ 1 to coins
get line i of field "data"
if it is not empty then

putround(ftameHelght()/a.?"lt/maxValue) intocoinCount

set pattern to 13

drawCoinshoriz, frameBottom()-^, coinCount
end if

add ^0 to horiz
end repeat , ■ ■ ,

reset paint

choose browse tool

setuserLeveltosaveLevel

end mouseup ' '

ondrawCoinsleft, bottom, howMany , ,,

put bottom into y
repeat with i = 1 to howMany
subtract fl from y

drag from left,y to left+3Q,y-t ID

play "harpsichord" c7s --this is an added line that maKes a

— clicking sound as the coins pile up

end repeat

end drawCoins

This is the kind of program one normally thinks of
when one hearb the term "computer program."
HyperCard can handle these too, and even makes
them easy to read. Tht main program, "mouseUp,"
has a secrion for setting up the Paint tools, a set up
section for that data, and a repeat loop that calls a
subroutine to actually draw the coins. The subrou-
dne, ''drawCoins," can be in any script at this level
or above in the inheritance. It has three input param-
eters, "left, bottom, howMany" that tell where ro
draw the coins. The main program calls several
"functions," such as frameLeft() and maxLine().

SCRIPTS YOU CAN USE 339

These are handlers that return a value when they are
done. The value goes right into the expression that
was being computed when the function was called.
Functions can be defined by the user, and frameLehO
and maxLineO appear in the background and stack
scripts of the Plots stack.

Playing a
Tune

Sound adds an interesting new dimension to your
stacks. The harpsichord and boing sounds are built
into HyperCard, available to any script. You can use
other sounds as long as you include their resources in
the stack that uses them. This script plays the Big Ben
chime when you click.

on mouseUp

play "Bolng'i tempo?DDecdg3h. gqd^ecw — playtheBlgBenchime
end rooQseUp

on mouseUp and end mouseUp make up the message
handler. "Play" is the command. "Boing" is the name
of the sound to play. Tempo is an optional setting.
"Normal" tempo is 200; higher numbers are faster.
The comment at the end of the line tells you what
this command will do.

The letters each represent a note on the musical scale.
Octave 4 (middle C's octave) is assumed if none is
specified. This tune starts at the E above middle C. it
goes down to C, up to D, then down to the G below
middle C, which it holds for a dotted half note. All
notes are the same length as the previous note unless
otherwise specified. If you don't specify any value in

340

CHAPTER 8 HOOKED ON SCRIPTS

the script, HyperCard uses quarter notes. Here are
the other values;

h = half note
w = whole note
q = quarter note
e = eighth note
s = sixteenth note
t = thirty-second note
X = sixty-fourth note

A period means make the preceding note dotted (1.5
times as long). The following notes in the command
continue to use a duration setting until you change it
by including a new duration after the note you want
to be of a different value. Changing octaves works
the same way.

There are several examples of the Play command in
the Help system. The music example in the Introduc-
tion to HyperCard contains a script you can use to
build a keyboard that places a corresponding note on
a staff when you use tbe Browse tool to click any key

The music example is a fairly simple one, limited to
the key of C. (With a litde work it could be expanded
to include other keys). The example shows a key-
board and a staff. "Playing" a note on the keyboard
produces a corresponding note on the staff. One of
the time-consuming tasks in learning to play any mu-
sical instrument is learning this correspondence. An-
other is learning to recognize the pitch of a sound
that's played or a note on the staff. One of the first
things I wanted to build in HyperCard was a musical
example that would give you instant feedback so that
you'd know if you'd identified the right note. Ted Ka-
ehlcr wrote this script that shows some of the possi-
bilities of what you can do with just a few
commands.

SCRIPTS YOU CAN USE 341

on moQseUp

get the clicltloc

put Item 1 of it into noteNum

put 1 + {noteNum - BE) DIV 13 into noteNuBi

put 3fl <□ il A3 ^5 ^7 50 52 53 55 57 59 bp b^" ~j

&S"t';t5t7t,q717?7ii7t=777Hfllfl3i'into Iceymap

put word noteNum of keymap into realNote

play "harpsichord" realnoteA "g"

if noteNum < 15 then

put - ( ( noteNum- 17 ) '3 ) - ID into noteLocY
else

put ED'; - ( ( noteNume -17 )*3 ) - ID into noteLocY
end if

sho¥ button Note at 317, noteLocY
end mouseUp

"Get the clickloc" returns the horizontal and vertical
screen coordinates last clicked. It gives a position on
the keyboard to be used in determining the notes
"played." The values are in the form of items, sepa-
rated by commas.

Because clickloc's answer or "result" is automatically
placed in "it," a local variable used to store temporary
results, you can now put "it" into another local vari-
able — NoteNum.

Hint

A variable is a container, like a field. You can store
a value in it. But unlike a field, a variable doesn't
exist outside the script as an object. It's a place to
put something while the script is running, to be for-
gotten when the script is done.

The next few lines of the script calculate the note that
matches the place clicked on the picture, using the
pixel width of each key to determine which note was
clicked. The next line describes the intervals in the

342

CHAPTER 8 HOOKED ON SCRIPTS

key of C and puts the table into the variable "key-
map." "Put word NoteNiim of kevMap into real-
Note" pulls the correct note pitch out of the table
based on the location you clicked on the keyboard.
(HyperCard doesn't know the difference between text
and numbers, so word "noteNum" may represent
word 3, which in this case would actually be the
number "40."

Now comes the "Play" command. Instead of a note
value such as a, b, c, etc., the variable "realnote" tells
HyperCard which note to play (the numbers in the
table above are another way of specifying note
pitches). Tlie is used to concatenate or string to-
gether the notes and the "q" that specifies quarter
notes.

To put the correct note on the staff, this script uses a
button with an icon that looks like a quarter note.
{The resource for this button is in the Help Samples
stack. You can use a resource editor such as ResEdit
to edit or add new resources to any stack.) The hor-
izontal location is fixed for all the notes at 317 [see
the last line of the script), but the vertical location
changes, depending on how high or low in the staff
the note falls.

NoteNum is the number of the white key clicked.
Lines "If NoteNum < 15. . ." through the "end if"
statement calculate the position based on whether the
note clicked is above or below Middle C using arith-
metic I'd rather not talk about. Show button Note at
317,noteLocY moves the button on the screen.

SCRIPTS YOU CAN USE 343

Limiting the
Scope of the
Find

Command

In the Help system I wanted to limit finding text in
the Glossary to terms defined within the Glossary.
The normal Find command searches the entire stack
and looks in all fields. The glossary is just one back-
ground of the stack and the terms being defined are
listed in field 1 of each card. There is a "find" button
on each glossary card that prompts the uset for a
term and it does a restricted search. We want all
searches after the user cficks the "find" button to be
restricted. Any search that starts outside the glossary
and happens to land in it should continue searching
the whole stack when the user presses return. For ex-
ample, if you were searching anywhere in Help for
the word "button," HyperCard would find any in-
stances of the word in the Glossary terms or defini-
tions as well as any other place in Help. But if you
clicked the "find" button in the glossary in order to
search for the word "button," HyperCard would
search only the first field in the Glossary back-
ground — the field that contains the terms. To make
this happen, let's define a global variable "findln-
Glossary" that's true after the user clicked the find
button and false if the user just happened into the
glossary.

344 CHAPTER 8 I HOOKED ON SCRIPTS

Add these lines to the background script:

on openBackground

global f indlnGlossary

put false into f indlnGlossary

push recent card

end openBacKground

These hnes are in the Find button's script:

on mouseUp

global f indlnGlossary

put true into f indlnGlossary

doHenu "Find . . ."

end raouseUp

When you dick the "find" button in the glossary, set
the variable to true and prompt the user for the term.
Subsequent searches will look only in field 1 oi the
glossary, because of this script. To start the search, cht
user presses the Return key That sends the message
"returnKey" to the current card. This background
script catches the message and modifies the find
command:

on returnKey

global f InainGlossary

if first word of msg is not "find" or f indl nGlossary <> true
then pass returnKey —do any other msg box command normally
else seod msg && " in field 1" to HyperCard —lust in title field
end returnKey

If the command in the message box is not a Find
command, pass returnKey to let HyperCard do what
it would normally do. if findlnGlossary is false, also
pass the command through unchanged. Flse add "in
field 1" after what is in the message box (Find "but-
ton'^) and send the whole command to HyperCard.

And finally, set "findlnGlossary" back to false when
you leave the glossary with these lines:

on closeBackground

global findlnGlossary

put false into findlnGlossary

end closeBackground

SCRIPTS YOU CAN USE

345

Generating
Bar Codes

James Redfern wrote this script that generates bar
codes using the Paint tools:

— Puts 3 of bar code of a card 's id on the card .

— Bar code will be in upper left corner of card , underthemenabar.

— jfr

on code

pat "Q , Qi' into origin --location of upper left corner of bar code

put 2D into height --height of bar code

put 1 into narrow --width of smallest line

put narrow ■ B into wide — use for compressed ratio

put narrow ' 3 into wide — use for preferred ratio

put the short id of this card into Info --or anything to 31 chars

put "QGNTDJ7<aL3BIPF?qt--X'IV ZKfiftHOEiaSflCaUYW" into alpha
put "DQDnaDlll,DDaDDlLDl,DaDDin011,DDDa],DllD,ii intotransi'^
pUti'GDDQllDDl,oanDl,l.lDa,DDDlDDlQl,DDDllQ(]Dl,i' after trans^q
put "0QDllDl,DD,D01DDDDll,DDlDDD110,DDlDaiQDl," after trans3H
put "□□lDDllDD,DD101DDlD,QGlDlLDDa,nDl,lDDDai," aftertransBS
put "□□llDDinD,DDlllDDDQ,DlDDaDLDl,01DnDlPlCJ," after transit
put "□inDlDQai,ninD101QD,D101D[]Dl,D,01DlDlDQQ," after transSR
put "□llDDODDl,DlinnO],OQ,DL101DDDD,lQDaDDDll," after trans3q
put "LDDOOOllD, IDDGDloai , IDDDDllDD, inODlPDLD," after transSH
put "l,DDDL10GO,lClDlDDnoi,lDGlDQlDD,lD011DQDD," af ter t ra ns 3'=l
put 'ilDlDDDD10,lDiaDlDaD,lDllDQCIGQ,LlD0QDDDl,'i after transBR
put "llDDlDQDD,lllDnQDnn" after trans3'^
put item 1 of origin into orgH
put item 5oforiginlntoorgV
put narrow ' 7 + wide " 3 into codeWidth

repeat with cacdinx = numberofthiscardtonumberofcards

put the short id of this card into info — or anything to 31 chars

put & info & "■>' into info

put number of chars in info into infoSiz

put orgH -f codeHidth into horz

put ( infoSiz - codeHidth into width

choose select tool

drag from origin toorgH ^ width "E-1, orgV + height -1
doMenu "Clear Picture"

drag from origin to orgH + width -l,orgV - height - L
doflenu "Opague"
choose line tool
put true Into black

346

CHAPTER 8 HOOKED ON SCRIPTS

repeat with Inx = 1 to InfoSiz

put Item offset(char inx of info, alpha) of trans3q~|
8 "D" into codeBuf f
repeat with bar = 1, to !□

if char bar of codeBuf f = "Di' then
set lineSize to narrow
put narrow aiv ? into toolTLCenter
put (narrow -i-l) div ^ into toolBECenter
else

set lineSize to wide

put wide div E into toolTLCenter

pat(wide+l,)aiv?into toolBBCenter
end if
if black

then drag from horz + toolTLCenter, orgV + toolTLCenter H
to horz + toolTLCenter, orgV + height - toolBFCenter
add the lineSize to horz
put not black into black
end repeat
end repeat
go to next card
end repeat
choose browse tool
end code

This script adds a bar code to the card picture.
Change the U,0 at the beginning in order to change
the location of the code on the card.

Change the repeat count to "number of cards" and
un-comment the "put" and "go to" to apply the script
to an entire stack of cards. Change what's put into
the variable "info" to represent something other than
the card's ID number.

This is the 3 of 9 bar code. Each character is repre-
sented by nine bars, of which three are wide, and the
rest narrow. A bar can be white or black, but the first
and ninth bars are always black. A narrow white bar
separates contiguous characters. A wide bar is three
times the width of a narrow bar, as a preferred rario.
If space is tight, a compressed ratio of one to two can
be used. Up to 3 1 characters can be represented with

SCRIPTS YOU CAN USE

347

a single bar code. A special character begins and ends
this sequence. Look under the menubar (Command-
space) to see this.

This handler paints a bar code on a card's picture,
clearing and masking the area of the picture where
the bar code will go. This area will be a rectangle,
with an upper left corner and height selected by the
user. The width is determined by the number of char-
acters to be coded, and the selected width of a narrow
bar. If need be, the width can be made smaller by
using the compressed ratio, but this may increase read
errors.

Automatic
Indexing

Ken Doyle has written a very nice "stack indexer." In
a field on the first card of a stack, it creates a line for
each card in the stack and puts the title of the card
there. At one glance you see all the titles of the cards
in the stack. Clicking on one takes you instandy to
that card. Whenever you leave the stack after chang-
mg a title, adding a card, or deleting a card, the index
is automatically updated. Figure 8.2 shows what the
stack looks like — two fields and a button.

In the stack script, this handler creates the index.
Make sure theres a background field named "tide"
with a tide in each card and a card field named "in-
dex" on the first card.

on index

—create an index of each card in this stack
global changed

put '"' into card field "index'i of card 1
put the number of cards into cards

348 CHAPTER 8 I HOOKED ON SCRIPTS

Recipe Index:

This stack demonstrntes
the use of an BUtDrnatic
IndEHirg scheme. Scncts
ore located in the stBck,
the infleK field to the
right; and in the title
Held ol the index cards.
Adding or deleting cards,
or changing the title of a
cord couses the Inden to
be recorrputGd when you
leave the stack
Clicking on the title at
the right takes you to that
card,

Tjrtlc Soirp d \n mode
Cliicken du In Quten
Me'ican MoBlbfllli
Chocolate Fnllers
Rum Cilct

Rebuild Indew j

FIGURE 8—2 The first card in a stack that automatically indexes

repeat with cardNum = ? to cards

put line li of field utitlei' of card cardNum into~|
line card Hum - 1 of card field "index" of card 1

end repeat

put false into changed
end index

The repeat loop spins through the cards, putting the
title field of each into the corresponding line of the
index field on card 1.

The field that contains the index is locked, so that
when the user clicks on it, the field's mouseUp han-
dler gets a chance to run (if it weren't locked, you'd
get an insertion point for typing):

on mousellp

put the textheight of card field "index" into
height

put the rect of card field "index" into rect

SCRIPTS YOU CAN USE 349

put item E of rect into lineLoc

put item ^ of the clickLoc Into clickY

put 1 into cardNum

repeat while clic}tY > lineLoc

add height to lineLoc

add 1 to cardNum
end repeat

If cardNum > □ then '
visual effect iris open
go card cardNum
end if
end mouseUp

This script computes which line you clicked on and
goes to that card. Now all we have to do is figure out
when to update the index (by running the "index"
script). The global variable "changed" will be true
when the user has done something to modify one or
more cards in the stack. It starts off false:

on openstack

global changed

put false into changed

push recent card

hide message box
end openStack

And gets set to true when you change something:

on closeField

global changed

put true into changed
end CloseField

on deleteCard

global Changed

put true into changed
end deleteCard

on newCard

global changed

put true into changed
end newCard

350 CHAPTER 8 I HOOKED ON SCRIPTS

When you leave the stack, decide if it was changed
this time. If so, recompute the index. The field "alert"
has text that tells the user to wait while the index is
rebuilt. It is normally hidden.

on closeStack

global changed
ifchanged = true then
go first card

index — actually &o the work
end if
end closeStack

And there is a background button named "Rebuild
Index" that lets you manually order the index to be
rebuilt.

on inouseUp

index --rebuild it ' ' "
end mouseup

A Pictorial

Index / .

The following script, written by James Redfern, cre-
ates a picture index using the miniature form of a
card generated by pasting an entire card while hold-
ing down the Shift key:

— This makes a miniature p let a re of every card in a stack , and places
— them on a newly created card (and bkgnd) , which will then be the
— second card . Each miniature on this new card will be a button that
— will go to the corresponding card.

— Only the first cards wili be Indexed, but this can be extended
— by changing the script to create multiple cards.

— Note: the screen Is 51^ by , and the miniture Is b£. by pixels.

— jfr

on piclndex
put "55t,,171" into center

put tl into col — l,A=B + E^, half miniture width plus border

SCRIPTS YOU CAN USE 351

pot £.3 into row — ^S=? + se, half mlniture height plus border
go to card L

set lockScreen to true
doMenu "New Badtgraund"

set name of this background to "Not This Bkgnd"
set nadie of this card to "Put Them Here"
go to card 1

repeat with cardlnjt = 1 to number of cards
push next card

if short name of this bkgnd is not "Not This Bkgnd" then
choose browse tool —avoid btn outlines in miniature
set lockScreen to false — must be to get miniature
doMenu "Copy Card"
set lockScreen to true

put "on mouseup" & return & "go to" into goToScript
put id of this card & return & "end mouseUp" after
goToScrlpt

go to card "Put Them Here"

type "u" with commandKey, shiftKey —this pastes a miniature card

— pic

drag from center to col, row

choose btn tool — Objects menu must be present
doHenu "New Button"

put id of card btn ( number of card buttons) into newBtnID
set rect of card btn id newBtniD to ~i
col-35,row-ai,col+35,row+51

set style of card btn id newBtnID to transparent
set showName of card btn id newBtnID to false
set name of card btn id newBtnID to empty
set autoHilite of card btn id newBtnID to true
set script of card btn id newBtnID to goToScript
add 43 to row — + 1, mlniture height plus gap
if row > = then — 3<;e - 31.

put 43 into row —£.E=^ + es, half mlniture height plus border
add to col — Li: + 1, minlture width plus gap
if col > = ^an then exit plclndex — 51,3 - 32

end if

pop card --go to the next card
end repeat
choose browse tool
go to card "Put Them Here"
set lockScreen to false
end plclndex

To carry out this script, type "piclndex" and press
Return or place the script in a button you create.

352

CHAPTER 8 HOOKED ON SCIUPTS

Summary

This chapter has included scripts contained in
HyperCard and scripts contributed by early
HyperCard hackers. You can use these scripts exactly
as they are or modify them to do something sliglitly
different. Modifying scripts is the best way to learn
your way around HyperTalk.

Chapter 9

"WeVe witnessed the
transition into
another era. This is
the HyperCard era. "
Lee Felsenstein

Talking to the Rest of
the World

There's a world of connected information within HyperCard, but
there's also an outside world you might sometimes want to commu-
nicate with — using desk accessories or sending or receiving informa-
tion from word processors, graphics programs, or other HyperCard
flies on a network.

354

CHAPTER 9 TALKING TO THE REST OF THE WORLD

The Scrapbook and
Notepad

The Scrapbook desk accessory is a handy place for
pictures or text you use often. It can't store buttons
or fields, but the Scrapbook is still a great help in
juggling the odd pieces of information you need to
store temporarily, and for storing the pictures or text
you use frequendy and don't want to chase down in
various stacks.

The Scrapbook can accept any picture from
HyperCard. Even though HyperCard uses a different
format than the Scrapbook uses, its pictures can be
stored in the Pict format the Scrapbook uses.
HyperCard pictures can subsequently be pasted into
any application that can accept the Pict format. Oc-
casionally a HyperCard picture may be too large to
be stored in the Scrdphook, which is limited to the
size of a MacPaint window.

Unlike MacPaint, which plops a pasted picture into
the center of the screen, HyperCard pictures are
pasted into the exact spot they were copied from.
[This makes aligning things a dream.) This posidon
is remembered by the Scrapbook as well, so you
can store things temporarily in the Scrapbook with-
out losing their original position on the screen. Of
course, you can- move any pasted image while it's
still selected, and you can undo and re-paste any
picture.

IMPORTING AND EXPORTING TEXT

355

Opening Other ' '

Applications

You don't have to leave HyperCard to open another
■ _ application. The Open command lets you open any
available Macintosh application. Use it in the Mes-
sage box or any script: Open MacPaint or Open "My
document" with MacWrite.

When you quit the other applicarion, you'll return to
whatever card you were at when you left HyperCard.

Importing and Exporting
Text

If you currently have text in a word-processor or da-
tabase file that can be saved as a text-only file, you
can bring the text-only (ascii) file into a HyperCard
stack. And you can create a text-only file from the
text in any existing stack. To later open the document
from the Finder, select both the text-only document
and the application you want to use with it. Then
choose Open from the File menu.

Most word processors and data bases let you save
documents as text-only, without any formatting in-
formation. You can use the following script to bring
these documents into HyperCard:

on mouseUp

--This button lets you bring in lots of data from another
—application. First figure out how to get that application
—to write out its data as a plain ASCII text file. Most
—databases have an easy way to do this. Only write out a very

356 CHAPTER 9 I TALKING TO THE REST OF THE WORLD

— small part of your data to make a small file, fifter you get the
— procedure down correctly, then write a file with the bulk of yoQr
— data, fifter writing a small sample file from the application, get
— into a text editor and look at the data. What characters appear
— between records (where you will want a new card)? What
— characters appear between fields? Remember that Return is a
— character ( a

— second Beturn shows as a blank linej . Tab is also a character and
— is sometimes hard to see. The separator characters must not
— also appear in the data itself.

— To Qse separators of more than one character, you must rewrite
— this script to look for the second character.

put " into fieldflark — Put your field separator between
— the quote marks. It must be only one character.

put tab into recordMark. — Put your record (card)

— separator on this line. Use the words return, tab, and quote
— to mean those characters .

— The text file should be In the same folder as HyperCard .
ask"Import text from what file?"
if it is empty then exit mouseOp
put it into fileName
open file fileName
repeat

doMenu " New Card"

repeat with i = 1 to the number of fields

read from file filename until fieldMark
if it is empty then — end of file

if i - 1 then doMenu "Delete Card" ■ ■■■
close file fileName
exit mouseOp
end if

put empty into last char of it — remove last separator
put it into field 1
end repeat

read from file fileName until recordMark "* ■

end repeat
end mousetlp

125

And to export text from HyperCard into an ascii file;

on mouseOp

— Write out the text in the fields of all cards in this stack.
— Put it Into an SSCII file.

— These markers must not appear in the text. (If you are going to

IMPORTING AND EXPORTING TEXT 357

— use the accompanying Import text button to read the file, use
— single character markers. )
put I' into f leldHarker
put tab into recordMarker

put the short name of this stack & " text" into fileName

ask "Export text to what file?" with fileHame

if it is empty then exit mouseUp

put it into fileName

open file fileName

go to first card

repeat for the number of cards

repeat with i = 1 to the number of fields
write field i to flel fileName
write f leldHarker to file fileName
end repeat
go to next card

write recordnarker to file fileName
end repeat
close file fileName
end mouseDp

Some databases don't use a separate marker to signify
that a field is also the end of a record. The following
script imports text from such databases:

on mouseUp

— For data with no end-of-f ield marker before the end-of-record

— marker, use the following script . ( Some data bases write this type

— of file . )

— This button lets you bring in lots of data from another

— application. First figure out how to get that application

— to write out its data as a plain ft SCI I text file . Most

— databases have an easy way to do this . Only write out a very

— small part of your data to make a small file. After you get the

—procedure down correctly, then write a file with the bulk of your

— data . ftfter writing a small sample file from the application , get

— into a text editor and look at the data. What characters appear
— between records (where you will want a new card ) ? Hhat

— characters appear between fields? Remember that Return is a
— character ( a

— second Return shows as a blank line) . Tab is also a character and

— is sometimes hard to see. The separator characters must not
— also appear in the data itself.

358 CHAPTER 9 I TALKING TO THE REST OF THE WORM)

— To use separators of more than one character, you must rewrite
— this script to look for the second character.

put " ;" Into fleldHark — Put your field separator between

— the quote marks. It must be only one character.

pot tab into recordHark — Put your record (card)

— separator on this line. Use the words return, tab, and quote

— to mean those characters,

--The text file should be in the same folder as HyperCard,
ask "Import text from what file?"
if it is empty then exit mouseDp
put it into filename
open file f ileName

put the number of fields into lastField
repeat

doMenu " New Card"

repeat with i = 1 to lastField-1

read from file f ileName until fleldHark

put empty into last char of it — remove field separator

put it into field i
end repeat
— the last field

read from file f ileName until recordHark
if it is empty then — end of file

if field 1 is empty then doMenu "Delete Card"

close file f ileName

exit mouseDp
end if

put empty into last char of it — remove last separator
put it into field lastField
end repeat
end mouseUp

And this script is for exporting to those same
databases:

on raousellp

— Write out the text in the fields of all cards in this stack.

— Put it into an fiSCII file.

— These markers must not appear as part of your data in the text.

— (If you are going to use the accompanying Import textbutton to

— read the file, use single character markers. )
put";" into fieldMarker

put tab into recordHarker

IMPORTING AND EXPORTING TEXT

359

put the short aame of this stack & " text" into f lleBame

ask'iExport text to what file?" with fileName

if it is empty then exit mouseUp

put it into fileName

open file fileName

go to first card

repeat for the number of cards

repeat with i = 1 to the number of fields
write field i to file fileName
write f ieldHarker to file fileName

end repeat

go to next card

write recordllarker to file fileName
end repeat
close file fileName
end mouseDp

You do need to tell HyperCard what characters in the
text-only document should separate fields and cards
in the HyperCard stack. You can use any character
on the keyboard to separate fields and cards. Tab and
Return are the most commonlv used.

Hint

If you're having trouble getting text into Hyper-
Card or if you have a large file to import and want
to troubleshoot before you try importing the whole
file, try this. Make a copy of the text-only hie you
want to import; delete all but a small portion of
the file; then try importing it. If you're still having
trouble getting the file into HyperCard, make two
or three new cards in the HyperCard stack you
want to import to. Type information into each of
the cards; export the text by choosing Export Text
from the File menu and look at the resulting file to
see what HyperCard did to it. Make the file you
want to import look like that.

360

CHAPTER 9 TALKrNG TO THE REST OF THE WORLD

Importing and Exporting
Pictures

The format of HyperCard graphics is different from
the format of MacPaint documents. But HyperCard
can read MacPaint format and transform it into the
format HyperCard understands. The Import and Ex-
port Paint commands let you translate entire docu-
ments. (You can also use the Clipboard and the
Scrapbook to translate the picture into the generic
picture format used to trade pictures among Macin-
tosh applicadons.) To bring an exisdng MacPaint
document into HyperCard, choose Import MacPaint
from the File menu. This command is available when-
ever you're using any Paint tool. Select a document
from the list of MacPaint documents that appear.
HyperCard pastes the picture onto the card picture of
the current card. You now have one brief moment to
change your mind by choosing Undo or pressing the
top left key on the keyboard. Once you do anything
else, you can't receive any picture that may have been
there before you imported the MacPaint picture. Use
the Transparent command (or just type "T") to see
any underlying background pictute.

Networks: AppleTalk,
Phone Lines

You can send HyperCard stacks over AppleTalk and
you can share stacks with other HyperCard users
with AppleShare. You can also send stacks using
phone lines, just as you send any other Macintosh
file.

SOUND 361

Sound

With HyperCard, sound moves in along with visual
effects as a new element of the interface. HyperCard
comes with two sounds built in: harpsichord and
Boing. Both of these sounds are used with the Play
command to produce a certain sound color (called a
"dmbre"). You can control both the duration and the
pitch of any note you play using a musical shorthand.
For example, you can use this line to play "Mary had
a Little Lamb," on the harpsichord:

Play I' harpsichord" "edcdeeehdqddheqggh"

The first letter in each group is the pitch {c through
g, then a and b). Each note is a quarter note unless
you tell HyperCard otherwise by giving it a different
duration, such as "h" for a half note, "w" for a whole
note, or "e" for eighth note. HyperCard makes all
following notes the same length until you change it
again.

The full variety of notes is:

q#3h. — G sharp in the third octave for a dotted half note

Sharp is # and flat is b. The number is the octave (C
to C) with 4 being the middle octave. Any note can
be stretched to 1 1/2 dmes its length (made dotted}
by adding a period after it. A "t" after a note makes
it a triplet (1/3 length). A command to play a tune
(the one above plays "Mary Had a Little Lamb") is
most useful in the script of a button. However, play-

362

CHAPTER 9 TALKING TO THE REST OF THE WORLD

ing a sound in the "openCard" handler of a card
often gives a nice effect.

You can substitute a number for the pitch by using
this Hne:

Play " harpsichord" "StqSfl"

This allows computed note values. Middle C is 60
and the number is in half-steps.

You can control the speed of a tune by using the
"tempo" option by using this line:

Play " harpsichoEaii tempoEDDne Ac dee eh dqddheq g gh"

In a script, the function "the sound" returns the name
of the sound that is playing at this moment. The an-
swer is "done" if the sound has finished. 'The sound"
is useful because the script goes on to the next com-
mand before the notes in a play command are made.
The notes come out at their own speed. Any disk that
is not a SCSI disk {any floppy disk or non-SCSI HD-
20} uses some of the same hardware as the sound. If
you get data off the disk (go to the next card) while
sound is playing, the sound gets scratchy. Here is a
script that waits for the sound to finish before going
to the next card:

Play " harps ichord'i tempo EDDiiedcdeeehdqddheqggh"
repeat untiithe sound is" done"

— wait here for the sound to finish
ead repeat
go to next card

The sound itself (also called an instrument, sound
color, or timbre) is actually a resource file. It is at-

SUMMARY 363

tached to a Macintosh file and HyperCard finds it by-
looking for it by name. When you specify the name
of a sound, such as "harpsichord," HyperCard looks
at the resources of the current stack, the Home stack,
HyperCard itself, and the system file. If it finds a re-
source of type 'snd ' of that name, that is the sound
that will play.

There are two sources of new sounds for HyperCard:
You can get a sound from another stack, or you can
move a new sound into HyperCard from an appli-
cation that manipulates sound. Some programs that
let you record, synthesize, and edit sounds on the
Macintosh can also write the sounds out in the
format that you want. If the application can write
'snd " format II resources, then you can make it to put
the sound directly into your stack. If you are getting
an existing sound from another stack, you can move
it with the ResEdit program or Andy Hertzfeld's new
resource mover (see Appendix 4).

Summary

In this chapter, you have learned how to get infor-
mation into and out of HyperCard using the Scrap-
book and commands within HyperTalk designed to
deal with information in other formats.

Afterword

This book is full of practical examples of using HyperCard. It has
detailed exactly how to get HyperCard's power into your own work.

But the most exciting power of HyperCard is its way of opening our
minds to new ways of doing things with a computer — ^ways that can't

366 AFTERWORD

be prescribed in a book, ways that haven't even been
thought of yet. IF you have followed the examples
throughout this book, you'll see some new ways of
using the Macintosh to organize your work. But more
importandy, you'll also start to imagine new ap-
proaches to old problems. You'll find that HyperCard
encourages you to approach your work from a new
slant.

HyperCard and
Hypermedia

HyperCard is "hypertext," or, more accurately, "hy-
permedia," which means that it gives you the abilitv'
to move around in and edit large amounts of infor-
mation that's represented in many different forms —
text, pictures, sounds, animation, and video disk
frames, for example.

Imagine an ardcle in a scholarly journal. At the bot-
tom of each page and in a bibliography at the end of
the article are numerous cross-references to other ar-
ticles in other journals. In the ancient medium of
books, you have a tedious process ahead of you to be
able to get at the exact informarion you want in each
of the references. You need to go to the library, locate
each of the journals, see if they're already checked
out, and search the stacks for the issues you want.
Even when you have all the materials assembled in
front of you, you have the task of tracking and back-
tracking from journal to journal, discarding the in-
formation you don't want, and trying to make sense
of the mess of paper in front of you. And that's just
the access to the words. What if you want to contrib-
ute something to the discussion at hand? There's no
good way to annotate without taking copious notes.

EDUCATION 367

including full references, and being the world's most
organized person. And you still have no way to com-
municate your observations with others, aside from
corresponding with them individually.

Now imagine the same scene with HyperCard: Yon
open a stack that contains an index of articles on a
subject. As you browse through one of the articles,
searching for text that interests you and clicking but-
tons that take you to other places in the article, you
see cross-references to other articles. Clicking on the
cross-references takes you instandy to the cross-ref-
erence. And, wonder of wonders, you're able to an-
notate any of the text there, keeping notes for
yourself or adding to a discussion you share with
other people interested in the same subject. And
you're not limited to text, of course, because you
have the Paint tools at hand. This may dramatically
change the way we exchange information with other
people.

Education

HyperCard promotes student-initiated learning. It's a
tool not just for the teacher, but for the student. With
HyperCard, learning doesn't have to be a process of
digesting a predefined lesson plan, but of each student
defining their own unique learning experience.

Learning by exploring. Education is communication
in nme, space, and the intellect. HyperCard plays on
the curiosity that makes this kind of education work.
A major problem in traditional education is "You
have the answers, and I don't." Or "Get me to the
answers section." HyperCard invites a different inter-
action between students and teachers, between stu-
dents and the information to be learned.

368 AFTERWORD

HyperCard can amplify the power of a teacher and
allow the teacher to become a facilitator, rather than
a dictator, of the learning process.

Form and the Shape of
Content

There are probably whole schools of philosophy
based on the study of the relationship of form to its
content. I do remember and recommend one remark-
able book by artist Ben Shahn — The Shape of Con-
tent — that explores beautifully the inextricable
interweavings of the two.

As a musician I was used to studying this elusive re-
larionship — watching melody shape harmony, words
dictate risings and fallings of pitch. Writing books
about software brought up many of the same issues.
How does content relate to form? it's not likely that
you could design a book and then fit the writing into
the design. However, writing a book without a design
in mind is even less likely.

At first glance, HyperCard neady solves the problem.
The process of creating a form, of designing a stack,
can be completely intermingled with the content of
the stack. One doesn't have to come before the other;
each can be done concurrendy, mutating in the pro-
cess, or rebounding from drasdc changes and resist-
ing either bad design or bad content. And each can
be done by the same person — one head, one vision.

But as you start the work of designing a stack, the
problems of unifying form and content can get worse.
Why is this? With HyperCard you can totally lose
yourself in one or the other part of the process, ne-
glecring the other or getting bogged down in detail. 1

GATHERING 369

would often say to myself, "I've got to get back to
the words one of these days," so fascinated was I with
my new power as a stack designer.

I was entranced with the form. I wanted to spend all
of my time with it — endlessly seeing what I could
make of it next. But every once in a while, usually
faced with a very real release deadline, I had to aban-
don the form to deal with the content.

Gathering

While writing Macintosh manuals, I would some-
times think of or hear a phrase I liked and wanted to
use somewhere in a book I was writing. But I couldn't
think of a way to work a phrase like "the pain
screamed through her body" into a book about com-
puter hardware. It was even harder to imagine re-
counting the feeling of my mother licking her
handkerchief and wiping my sticky, five-year-old face
with it.

I started writing down a few things I drew out of the
past and that I wanted to remember for a book some
day. But the papers got lost in notes I was keeping, or
they survived only as shreds that fell out of my purse
months later. At best they remained tucked in a
drawer in my desk, — not forgotten, but not accessible
whenever I needed them, either.

My husband Ted began typing these realizations and
memories into HyperCard whenever 1 mentioned
one. HyperCard seems to elicit every tendency you
might have to gather things together in one place.

Last night one of the other guests at a dinner with
our friends Margie and Merrill was a man named

370 AFTERWORD

Scott. Scott told us about someone he knew in col-
lege. One time Scott walked into the computer room
and discovered this man sitting quietly in the corner
of the room, reading the newspaper. The paper was
upside down. Slightly embarassed, the man quickly
turned the paper rightside up again. When he was a
small boy, he had loved to hear his parents read to
him, but had also been chomping at the bit to read
to himself. His parents had heard that it wasn't good
for a child to read too early, so they had positioned
their son at their feet, where he had taught himself to
read upside down. Of course, he later learned to read
in the usual way, but whenever he was tired or, say,
alone in a computer room he read the way it was
easier for him.

That's the kind of thing I'd type into HyperCard . . .
to go in a book someday.

Becoming a Minimalist

When I wrote the MacPaint manual I had to learn a
new way of writing; omitting unnecessary words.
This was good training for HyperCard writing be-
cause writing for the Macintosh screen requires say-
ing things simply. Save the wordy explanations for
someplace else. It is tempting to sum up my experi-
ences with HyperC-ard and offer here the guidelines
for creating great new stacks. But to do that would
be the opposite of HyperCards purpose. Instead, this
book has shown what I have learned, without pre-
scribing any pat formulas for success. HyperCard will
bring its own serendipitous discoveries as you master
the basics and incorporate the techniques others have
developed. Whatever else, it's going to be fun.

ANNOTATION 371

Annotation

One of HyperCard's best features is that everything
in it is editable. Therefore, any user can be an author,
and vice-versa. But sometimes you want the original
to stay intact and not be editable by anyone. For ex-
ample, a card catalog in a library could quickly be
mangled by readers jotting down their private notes
or by would-bc librarians with good intentions "fix-
ing" a card catalog number, hi public places such as
libraries or schools, you could create stacks that can
be browsed but not edited by locking the text and
hiding the menubar. And someday you may be able
to "edit" the stack, by saving a file with only the dif-
ferences between the library's stack and "your" stack.

Appendix 1

HyperCard Windows

and Commands

Like other Macinrosh applications, HyperCard presents
commands in easy-to-see-and-use, pull-down menus. The
shortcuts for the most part are exactly that — faster ways to
do things you can also do by choosing from menus. A few
of the Painting actions aren't in the menus, but if you've used
MacPaint, you already know how to do nearly all of these.

Wliich menus and commands you see depends on your User
Level and the tools you're using. HyperCard is preset to the
Typing level, which is the second User Level. (The lowest
level — Browsing — -limits you to just viewing the stack with-
out making any changes to it.) With your User Level set to
Typing, you see just the Apple, File, Edit, and Go menus,
and the File and Edit menus arc shortened to nonauthoring
commands.

To see the Tools menu, you need to be at the Painting level

374

APPENDIX 1 HYPERCARD WINDOWS AND COMMANDS

or above. At the Painting level, you also get the ad-
ditional items in the File and Edit menus. Although
you can see the Field and Button tools in the Tool
menu, they're disabled at this level.

At the Authoring level, you have full use of all tools
and you see rhe Objects menu, which you can use to
see the dialog boxes that let you set properties for
buttons, fields, cards, backgrounds, and stacks. You
can't see or edit scripts, however, until you change
your User Level to Scripting.

You set your User Level on the last card of the Home
stack. The easiest way to get to this card is to go
Home and then press the left arrow key to go to the
previous card (the last card in the Homestack).

HyperCard Help and the HyperCard manual contain
complete descripdons of all HyperCard commands.
The windows and commands are summarized here.

APPENDIX I 375

The Tools
Window

The Tools window is the torn-off Tools menu. See the
Tools menu for a description of each of the tools. If
you have a large screen such as a Radius, or if you
have a Macintosh II, you can keep the Tools window
handy and out of the way off to the side of the
HyperCard window.

Add these lines to your Home script to display the
windows separately on a large screen:

on startup

show card window at ^0,55

show tool window at -fln,sn

show message at EQ , 370
end startup

The numbers are horizontal and vertical screen co-
ordinates. Adjust them for a different arrangement.
(Lower numbers are higher on the screen and further
to the left.) Whenever you start up HyperCard (or
type "startup" into the Message box to send the start-
up message), the Message box or the Tools window
will be displayed at these coordinates unless another
script changes their position.

The Pattern
Window

The Pattern window is the torn-off Pattern menu. See
the Pattern menu for a description.

376

APPENDIX 1 HYPERCARD WINDOWS AND COMMANDS

The

Destination
Window

This window appears when you start a link and re-
mains until you complete the link by pointing to a
destination. The two choices on the window are to
link the selected button to a specific card or to the
first card in a specific stack. The advantage of the
latter is that when you want a link to go to a stack
you don't usually want it to go to a specific card but
to the first card of that stack. This desnnation choice
Hnks the button to whatever card is currendy the first
card of the destination stack.

The Message
Window

This is the way you communicate with HyperCard —
by issuing the Find command or any other one-line
HyperTalk command. And HyperCard uses this win-
dow to respond back to you— with the results of a
command or function or any text a script puts there.
For example, a script might say "Put hello" or "Put
the time" to automatically display the Message box
with "Hello" or the current time.

The Apple Menu

About HyperCard gives the version number.

The Apple menu also contains the desk accessories
installed in the System file on the current startup disk.

THE FILE MENU 377

You can read about the System file and installing
fonts and accessories in it in your owner's guide.

The File Menu

New Stack

Creates a new stack. With Copy Current Background
checked, the new stack inherits the fields and back-
ground picture and buttons (including their scripts)
of the card you were viewing when you chose the
command. Otherwise, the new stack is a blank slate,
ready for you to create everything from scratch.

Open
Stack . . .

Presents the usual standard file dialog box you see
with any application. Move among folders and disks
by double-clicking folders, pressing the Drive button,
or dragging from the name at the top of the list.

Save a
Copy ...

Copies the current stack exacdy as it is and places it
in the folder on the disk you specify.

Compact
Stack ...

Rearranges the current stack on the disk as compacdy
as possible. You can find out the new file's size by

378

APPENDIX 1 HYPERCARD WINDOWS AND COMMANDS

choosing Stack Info from the Options menu.
HyperCard will work faster with the compaaed
stack, and it will take up less space on your disk. The
minimum space you'll gain is included as "Free in
Stack" when you choose Stack Info from the Objects
menu.

Protect
Stack . . .

Provides options for limiting access to or modifying
the contents of the current stack. You can also use
this menu to limit the user level while within this
stack. HyperCard uses the lower of the two limits
set — either here or on the User preferences card in the
Home stack. Passwords you set are encrypted so that
you can have private access to a stack. (There's no
way to get at the stack if you forget the password,
however.)

Delete
Stack ...

Deletes all cards in the current stack and takes you
back to the Home card.

Import Paint

Appears only when you're using a Paint tool. Presents
a list of MacPaint documents on the current disk.
Clicking a document name and then clicking Open
or double-clicking the document name pastes a copy

THE FILE MENU 379

of the MacPaint document. You get a card's worth of
the top left corner of the MacPaint document.

Import Paint is available whenever you're using a
Painting tool.

Export Paint

Creates a MacPaint document from the current card
and background picture. The picture is placed at the
top left corner of the MacPaint document.

Export Paint is available whenever you're using a
Painting tool.

Page
Setup . . .

Gives you options for the printer you're using and the
physical aspects of what you're printing. Be sure you
have LaserWriter 4.0 or later on your disk. EarHer
versions can't handle HyperCard.

Print Card

Prints the current card.

Print Stack

Prints the current stack back to front with whatever
options you set. These options are remembered with
stacks.

380

APPENDIX 1 HYPERCARD WINDOWS AND COMMANDS

Report . . .

Presents formats for printing text-only reports. You
can print only certain fields or all fields in the current
background or all fields in the current stack. Formats
include labels and the fields can be arranged across
the page in rows or down the page in columns of
adjustable width.

Quit

HyperCard

Does just what you'd expect, except that you aren't
asked if you want to save because HyperCard saves
your information while you work.

The Edit Menu

In general, the Edit commands affect the current se-
lection. The Cut, Copy, Paste, and Clear commands
affect whatever's selected.

Undo

Undoes your last editing or painting action, depend-
ing on which tool you're using. With the Paint tools,
pressing the accent/tilde key is the same as choosing
Undo.

Cut

Removes the currendy selected text, picture, button,
or field. Whatever is cut is placed onto the Clipboard.

THE EDIT MENU 381

Copy

Removes the currently selected text, picture, button,
or field. Whatever is copied is placed onto the
Clipboard.

Paste

Places the text, picture, button, field, or card you last
cut or copied at the insertion point in a field or what-
ever position it was copied from. Pictures are pasted
in opaque. You can make them transparent by choos-
ing Transparent from the Paint menu or typing "T"
with Power Keys checked.

Clear

Removes the currendy selected text, picture, button,
or field without placing it on the Clipboard.

New Card

Adds a new card (after the current card) to the cur-
rent stack, with the background picture and back-
ground buttons of the current card.

Delete Card

Deletes the current card and brings the next card in
the stack into view. HyperCard won't let you delete
the last remaining card in a stack. For that use the
Delete Stack command.

382

APPENDIX 1 HYPERCARD WINDOWS AND COMMANDS

Cut Card . . .

Removes the entire current card — buttons, fields, pic-
tures and all, including the card's background (which,
of course, also remains behind if any other cards are
using it) — and places it on the Clipboard.

Copy
Card . . .

Copies the entire current card — buttons, fields, pic-
tures and all, including the card's background — and
places it on the Clipboard.

Text Style ...

Presents a dialog box with font, size, alignment, and
style choices for the currently selected field.

The best sizes for each font appear in the fist. You
can override these choices by typing a new size. You
can also change the vertical space between lines by
typing in a new number in the Height box. Text Style
is available whenever there's an insertion point in a
field or a field is selected using the Field tool.

Background

Lets you edit the background rather than the card
objects. Choose Background again to return to edit-
ing the card picture or button.

THE CO MENU 383

The Go Menu
Back

Takes you to the most recent card. ^
Home

Takes you to the first card in the Home stack.

Help

Takes you to the first card in the Help stack.
Recent

Displays a dialog box with the 42 most recent cards.
Clicking any card takes you to that card.

First

Takes you to the first card in the current stack.
Prev

Takes you to the previous card in the current stack.

Takes you to the next card in the current stack.

384

APPENDIX 1 HYPERCARD WINDOWS AND COMMANDS

Last

Takes you to the last card in the current stack.

The Tools Menu and
Window

Browse Tool

Use the Browse tool for exploring stacks by clicking
buttons and searching for text, and for editing text
when the pointer is an I-beam.

Button Tool

Use the Button tool to make buttons that link to an-
other card or that specify other HyperCard actions.

Field Tool

Use the Field tool to control the size, shape, and po-
sition of boxes that text goes into. Background fields
are inherited by every card in the stack; card fields
belong to individual cards.

Selection
Rectangle

Use the selection rectangle to select a rectangular
area.

THE TOOLS MENU AND WINDOW

385

Lasso

Use the lasso to select nonrectangular images. If
there's enough space around the image you can also
select with the selection rectangle and then choose the
Lasso to have the selection rectangle "hug" the shape.

Lines

Draw straight lines. Press the Shift key to constrain
to 45- or 90-degree angles. Hold down the Opdon
key to draw lines using the current pattern.

Eraser

Erases where you drag. Double click to erase the en-
tire picture.

Pencil

Draws a thin tine — ^white on black or black on white.
This is the tool of choice for FatBits.

Rectangle

Draws rectangles, hollow or filled with the current
pattern. Hold down the Opdon key to draw borders
using the current pattern. Click the rectangle at the
top left of the Pattern window to draw filled
rectangles.

386

APPENDIX 1 I HYPERCARD WINDOWS AND COMMANDS

Freeform
Shape

Paints freeform shapes. Hold down the Option key
to draw shapes using the current pattern.

Hold down the Option key to draw border with the
current pattern. Chck the rectangle at the top left of
the Pattern window to draw freeform shapes tilled
with the current pattern.

Paintbrush

Paints with the current pattern. Choose Brush Shape
from the Paint menu or double-click the paintbrush.

Spraypaint

Spray paints with the current pattern.

Rounded
Rectangle

Draws rounded rectangles. Hold down the Option
key to draw borders using the current pattern. Click
the rectangle at the top left of the Pattern window to
draw filled rounded rectangles.

Irregular
Polygon

Draws lines to form a polygon. Click to turn a corner.
Choose Draw Filled from the Options menu to fill in
a connected polygon.

THE TOOLS MENU AND WINDOW

387

Hold down the Opdon key to draw border with the
current pattern. Click the rectangle at the top left of
the Pattern window to draw filled polygons.

Paint Text

Type Paint text. Choose fonts, sizes, and styles by
choosing Text from the Edit menu or by double-click-
ing the Paint text tool. Confirm choices by clicking.
Use Paint text whenever you want text in places other
than fields— for display, heads, or callouts, for ex-
ample — or whenever you want text to behave more
like a picture than text.

Paint BucJ<et

Position the tip of the pouring paint bucket in an out-
Imed area and click to fill the area with the current
pattern. The paint will leak through any gaps in the
outlined area. To correct, choose Undo and then fix
the gaps.

Oval and
Circle

Draws ovals, hollow or filled. Hold down the Option
key to draw borders using the current pattern. Click
the rectangle at the top left of the Pattern window to
draw filled ovals. To draw circles, hold down the Shift
key.

388

APPENDIX 1 HYPERCARD WINDOWS AND COMMANDS

Regular
Polygon

Drag to draw a polygon. Specify number of sides by
choosing Polygon Sides from the Options menu.
Draw filled polygons by choosing Draw Filled from
the Options menu.

The Paint Menu
Select

Selects a recently drawn shape.
Select All

Selects entire card or background picture.

Fill

Fills the selection (or last shape drawn) with the cur-
rent pattern.

Invert

Inverts the selected area of the picuire. You can also
type "i" with Power Keys checked.

PickUp

Picks up a copy of an underlying image in the shape
of what you last drew or a seieaion you dragged

THE PAINT MENU 389

there. The copy is selected and you can then drag it
off the underlying image.

Darken

Makes the selected area of the card or background
picture darker.

Lighten

Makes the selected area of the card or background
piCTure lighter.

Trace Edges

Outlines the black in the selected area. If nothing is
selected, all black in the picture is outlined. You can
also type "e" with Power Keys checked.

Rotate Left

Rotates the selected area of the picture to the left. If
nothing is selected, the entire card or background pic-
ture is rotated. You can also type with Power Keys
checked.

Rotate Right

Rotates the selected area of the picture to the right. If
nothing is selected, the entire card or background pic-
ture is rotated. You can also type "J" with Power Keys
checked.

390

APPENDIX 1 HYPERCARD WINDOWS AND COMMANDS

Flip Vertical

Flips the selection or the last drawn object vertically.

Flip

Horizontal

Flips the selection or the last drawn object
horizontally.

Opaque

Makes the selected area of the card picture opaque.
If nothing is selected, the entire picture becomes
opaque. You can also type "o" with Power Keys
checked.

Transparent

Makes the selected area of the card picture transpar-
ent. If nothing is selected, the entire picture becomes
transparent. You can also type "t" with Power Keys
checked.

Keep

Save the current picture as the one to revert to.

Revert

Go back to the last kept version.

THE OPTIONS MENU 391

The Options Menu
Grid

Constrains drawing, typing Paint text, selecting, or
moving a seleaion along the lines of an invisible grid.

FatBits

A zoom lens for detailed drawing. Command-click
with the pencil to zoom in at an exact spot; otherwise
zoom into what you most recendy drew. Use the Op-
tion key to get the Grabber.

Power Keys

Performs painting commands with a single keystroke.
The Power Keys are documented in online Help and
in the user's manual.

Line Size . . .

Choose a width for lines, reaangles, ovals, and
polygons.

Brush
Shape . . .

Choose a shape for the paintbrush.

392

APPENDIX 1 HYPERCARD WINDOWS AND COMMANDS

Edit

Pattern . . .

Edit the current pattern. Patterns are saved with each
stack.

Polygon
Sides ...

Choose the number of sides for regular polygons.

Draw hilled

Allows you to fill rectangles, rounded rectangles,
ovals, polygons, and closed curves with the current
pattern.

Draw
Centered

Allows you to draw shapes from the center rather
than from a comer.

Draw
Multiple

Allows you to draw repeated images using the current
line thickness.

THE OBJECTS MENU

The Patterns Menu

Lets you choose a pattern to paint or fill shapes with.
The patterns, which you can edit by double-clicking
them and clicking dots on or off, are saved with
stacks.

The Objects Menu

Button
Info ...

Displays a dialog box describing the selected but-
ton — its name, number within the card or back-
ground, unique ID, and Script, Icon, Cancel, and OK
burtons.

Field Info . . .

Displays a dialog box describing the selected field —
its name, number within the card or background,
unique ID, and Font, Script, Cancel, and OK buttons.

Card Info . . .

Displays a dialog box describing the current card —
its name, number within the stack, unique ID, num-
ber of buttons or fields it contains, and Script, Cancel,
and OK buttons.

394

APPENDIX 1 HYPERCARD WINDOWS AND COMMANDS

Bkgnd
Info . . .

Displays a dialog box describing the current back-
ground — its name, unique ID, number of cards that
share it, number of background fields and buttons it
contains, and Script, Cancel, and OK buttons.

Stack Info . . .

Displays a dialog box describing the current stack-
its name, where it is located (with colons indicanng
folders), number of cards and backgrounds it con-
tains, its size in Kbytes, the amount of space that
would be freed up by compacdng the stack, and
Script, Cancel, and OK buttons.

Bring Closer

Brings the selected button or field one level closer and
raises its number by one when appropriate (when it
bumps an object of the same type out of its relative
position).

Send Farther

Brings the selected button or field one level closer and
lowers its number by one when appropriate (when it
changes the relative position of an object of the same
type).

THE OBJECTS MENU 395

New Button

Creates a new button named New Button. You can
double-click it or choose Button Info from the Ob-
jects menu to see its button dialog box.

New Field

Creates a new field. You can double-click it or choose
Field Info from the Objects menu to see its field
dialog box.

New

Background

Creates a new, blank background, ready for you to
create or paste in a background picture, background
fields, and background buttons.

Appendix 2

HyperTalk Commands

The notation < > means whatever is within the angle brack-
ets represents something else you type. It might be a value or
the name of the field or any container sucb as a local variable
or the Message box. The text within the brackets tries to give
you an idea of what that text might represent. <Source>
means where the value comes from. <Destinanon> means
where a value goes. <h,v> means a location on the screen
(h is the horizontal coordinate, v is the vertical coordinate).

Many commands put the result of the command into "it," a
local variable used commonly because it reads like English.
To see the contents of "it" in the Message box, type "it" and
press the Return key. For example, you'd type "get name of
field 1," press Return, type "it," and press Return again to see
the name of field 1.

APPENDIX 2

Hint

In other languages "it" is called an "accumulator^
but in HyperCard it's just called "it."

Add <source> to <destination>

Adds the number in the source to the number in the
destmation and puts the answer in the desrination.
The destinarion must be a container, and the source
can be a container, a calculated expression, or just a
number. Use Add instead of just an expression to
specify where to put the result.

Examples:

Add 5 to total — same as Put total + 5 into total

Add number of cards to field "total cards"

Bdd ( amount + principle) ' □ . 015 to field "payment"

Answer <question> with <reply> or
<reply> or <reply>

Puts up a dialog box on the screen asking the user to
choose between the replies. The quesnon appears in
the dialog box. There can be one, two, or three pos-
sible replies. The answer that the user chooses goes
into "it," a local variable, and can be tested with the
"if" command. Maximum length of each reply is 13
characters (depending on character width). Contrast
with "Ask."

Examples:

Answer "How many copies?" with 1 or e

Answer "Bre you happy?" with "yes" or "no" or "maybe"

Answer "What 's the answer?" with field 1. or field e

APPENDIX 2 I HYPERTALK COMMANDS

Ask <question> with <default>

Puts up a dialog box and allows the user to type a
reply The reply goes into "it," a local variable. The
question appears in the box and the default reply is
filled in and selected. The question and default can be
any source. Contrast with Answer.

Examples:

Rsk ..Please elaborate:" with '.1 can ' t th ink of anything clever ...
fisk "Enter number of copies;., with 1
asH password "Please type password" —encrypts it
— as a number for developing custom protection

beep <count>

Makes a short system beep on the loudspeaker. The
count is the number of beeps. It can be a constant or
anything that returns a number.

Examples:
beep 3

on doHenu

beep
end. doMenu

if card field 1 > 1 then beep card field 1

choose <name of a tool>

Chooses a tool from the Tools Menu.
Examples:

choose rectangle tool
choose browse tool

APPENDIX 2 399

Click at h,v [with shiftKey | optionKey
I commandKey]

The same as if you had clicked manually
Examples:

Choose Button tool

Click at the loc of card button a

doHenu Button Info . . .

Choose text tool —for Paint text
Click at sa,iao
type "Hi"

Close file <fileName>

Close a file that you have previously opened and read
from or written into. Used for manipulating ASCII
text files from HyperTalk. See Open.

Example:

close file "export 1"

seconds

aateltems

long date
short date
abbreviated
date

long time
short time

Convert <container> to <format>

Converts the date or time in the container to the for-
mat specified. The formats arc:

seconds since iSD/i

Integers representing year , month , day ,
hour, minute, sec, day of week
Monday, Hay 11, iqa?
5/ll/fl7

Hon, Hay 11, iqa?
5:05:15 PH

400 APPENDIX 2 HYPERTALK COMMANDS

Delete <text>

Removes specified text from the current card.
Examples:

delete word ^ of line 5 of field Backorders

delete field pastdue

delete char 1 of line 1 of first field

Dial <source> [with modem
[<modemParameters>]]

Makes the touch tone sounds for the phone number.
Enclose phone number in quotes to keep the "-" from
causing subtracdon. You can buy a device that con-
nects the Macintosh sound output to the phone. To
use the Dial command, you need to first pick up the
phone and get a dial tone, and then issue the
command.

Examples:

dial '";afl-555-ieiS"
dial "AlS-SSS-l^^5"

Dialing with a Modem

Set up voice telephone calls by using a modem to dial.
Pick up the phone to get a dial tone and then click a
button whose script uses the Dial command.

When you're using the serial port for other devices,
click the "dial with": setting on the Phone card to
change it from "modem" to "speaker." Using modem
dialing when another device is attached to the serial
port may cause the system to lock up.

APPENDIX 2 401

Examples:

dial "l-^Dfl-qqt-lDlG" with moaem "flTSD = 0S7 = IDT"
dial i'l-<na-qRt,-l,ain'i with modem

If you don't have touch-tone service, use pulse dial-
ing. In this case, don't pick up the phone until the
number has been dialed:

dial "l-';oa-SqE,-l,DlG'i with modem "ATSD = DS? = IDP"

You can dial voice calls with the Apple Modem 300/
1200, the Apple Personal Modem, or any Hayes-
compatible modem.

Divide <destination> by <source>

Divides the number in the destination by the number
in the source. Puts the answer in the destination. The
destination must be a container, and the source can
be a container, a calcuated expression, or just a num-
ber. Divide A by B is the same as Put A/B into A.

Examples:
Divide total by 5

Put principle into field monthly payment
Divide field monthly payment by years'lE

Do <source>

Treats the source as if it were one or more lines in a
script and executes it.

Examples:

do card field 1
do card field E

402 APPENDIX 2 \ HYPERTALK COMMANDS

DoMenu <name of menu item>

Chooses the menu item named, just as if the user had
selected it from a menu. You do not have to specify
the name of the menu, only the name of the item.

You can write your own message handler to intercept
the doMenu (or keyboard equivalent) message.

Examples:

aoMenu Quit HyperCard
doHenu Paste Button
doHenu Print Stack
doHenu Calculator

Drag from h, v to h, v [with shiftKey |
optionKey 1 commandKey]

Tlie same as if you had dragged manually. You don't
need to click first. Available with any tool. See also
the click command.

Examples:

Choose line tool

Drag from 500 to 150, E5D

choose select tool

drag from ^3a,2fl0to^^D,2qa

Edit script of <object>

Opens the script editor so you can edit the obj
script.

APPENDIX 2

Example:

Edit script of button 3

Repeat with bb = 1 to the number of buttons

edit script of button bb
end repeat

Find <source> [in field nj
find chars <source> [in field n]
find word <source> [in field n]

Searches the current stack for the source text, looking
in the field specified (or in all fields if none specified.)
You can use a Go command to move to a different
stack before starring the search. After a search, the
card of the first match becomes the current card. If
no match, the current card does not change.

Examples:

Find "Hyper" in field 1 —finds at word beginnings
Find chars "Talk" —finds anywhere within words
Find word "HyperTalk" --finds exact word matches

Get <expression>

Puts the value of the expression into the local variable
"it."

Example:

Get the textFont of field E

Global <name of a variable>

Variables used within a message handler are normally
local to that handler, and go avyay when the message

404 APPENDIX 2 I HYPERTALK COMMANDS

has been handled. This command defines a variable
whose vahie is carried until you open another appli-
cation or quit HyperCard. Each script that uses the
global must redeclare it within its script before using
it.

Examples:

on startup

global userNarae

put "Willy" into
end startup

— get the current value
userName — change it

Go [to] <destination>

Goes to the card with any visual effect that has been
specified. If you don't specify a stack, you stay in the
current stack; if you don't specify a card, you go to
the first card in the specified stack.

Examples:

Go bact^ — or any commands in the Go menu

goAccouQts — first card in another stack

go card id 4511 of Server: HyperCard stacks :rolo

go mid — the middle card in this stack

go any — a random card in this stack

go to next card of this background

go to card 1 of next background

Hide menuBar
Hide card window
Hide pattern window
Hide Tool window
Hide message window
Hide button ID 3
Hide field <name>

APPENDIX 2 405

Removes the specified window from the screen, just
as if the user had dicked on the window's close box
or typed Command-space bar. Hidden fields aren't
tabbed through. You can find text in hidden fields
(but it won't be highlighted).

Multiply <destination> by <source>

Multiphes the number in the source by the number in
the destination and puts the result in the destination.
(Different from because it tells where to put the
answer).

Example:

Multiply total by 5 —Put 5'total into
total

Open <document> with
<appli cation >

Leaves HyperCard and starts another application. If
you don't specify a document name, the application
opens with a new document. Use a full pathname or
let HyperCard look dirough the paths defined on the
Homcstack. You can also open an application or doc-
ument named in a field.

Examples:

Open MacPaint
Open I'Memo to Ted" with
Open field 3
Open file "raw text"
— using Reaa

MacWrite

-in preparation for

406 APPENDIX 2 HYPERTALK COMMANDS

Open printing [with dialog]
close printing

Start and stop a printing job, using stacks' current
Print Stack dialog box setting or optionally allowing
the user to make new choices.

Examples:

open printing

go to card Tutorial

print 3D cards

go to stack Reference

print 30 cards

close printing

Play

Make musical sounds using the specified voice. Play
the notes in the list. "Boing" and "harpsichord"
voices are included in HyperTalk. To use other voices,
include their resources in your stacks,
note with # for sharp or b for flat
octave (4 - the middle octave)
time value — w, h, q, e, s, t, x (whole thru 64th)
c#5q. optional for dotted, 3 for triplet

Examples:

play "Boing" tempo 1£0 "ecdgBh. gqd'leGw."

Everything except accidentals stays in effect unril it is
changed. Put a space between notes. If no notes are
specified, the sound plays for its natural length.

While sound is playing, HyperTalk scripts go on run-
ning and all tools and buttons continue to work. If

APPENDIX 2 407

your stack is on a 3'/2-inch disk or an HD20, sound
will be scratchy whenever HyperCard reads the disk.

You can also specify a note value with a number
rather than a letter: 60q is Middle C. 61 is C#; 59 is
B, etc. To play sounds other than "harpsichord" or
"Boing," you must make the data for the sound avail-
able. The actual data for sounds is stored in re-
sources. HyperCard looks for the resources in the
current stack, the Home stack, the HyperCard appli-
cation, and the System file. If the sound exists in any
of those places, it will play

Pop card

Goes to the card most recently pushed by the push
command.

Examples: ------

Pop card

pop card into field 3 — stores the long

— name and pops the card without

— taking you there

Print <document> with
<application>

Leaves HyperCard, opens the specified document,
and prints it using current prinring specifications. Use
a full pathname, or let HyperCard follow the search
order you've set in the "Look for Stacks In'' card in
the Home stack. You can also run an apphcation or
document named in a field.

408

APPENDIX 2 HYPERTALK COMMANDS

Examples:

Print "Hemo to Ted" with HacWrite
Print field "Weekly report" with field 3

— (the name of the application it uses is

— in field 3 )

Push Card

Marks the current card. The next "pop card" com-
mand will return to this card.

Examples:

push card
jlaterl
pop card

Push recent card --pushes the card you were
— at before you came to the current
— card

Put <source> before | into | after
<destination>

Places the contents of the source into the destination.
Use "before" to insert before, "into" to replace, or
"after" to append after. The destination must be a
container. If the destination is not recognized,
HyperCard creates a temporary variable of that
name. If the destination is omitted, it is the Message
box. Use with the Go command to put in a remote
field.

Examples:

put --put the contents of it into Message
--box

put "completed" after line 3 -

APPENDIX 2 409

put "Bye now" Into field 5
put "Hello'i

Read from file <fileName> until
< character >

read from file <fileName> for
<number of bytes>

Reads from an external ASCII text file into "it." You
must use Open to open the file and Close after you
are done. See the "Import Text" button in stack But-
ton Ideas.

Examples:

read from file "Import 5" until tab
if it is empty — end of file
then close file "Import E"

Reset Paint

Puts the options in the Options menu and the char-
acteristics of Paint text back to their preset values.

Set the <property> of <object> to
<value>

Sets the specified property for the object.
Examples:

Set textFont of button 1 to New York
Set style of button 1 to transparent
Set userLevel to 2 --Typing

410

APPENDIX 2 HYPERTALK COMMANDS

Show menuBar
show card window at h,v
show pattern window at h,v
show Tool window at h,v
show message window at h,v
show tool window at h,v
show button ID 3 at h,v
show field <name> at h, v

Puts the specified window on the screen at the same
location as the last time it appeared (just as if you'd
torn off the menu or chosen Command-M) or at any
horizontal or vertical location you specify.

Examples; ■ -

Show Message at , fc5
center
Show t cards
Show all cards

--h and v of button

Sort [ascending | descending] [text |
numeric | international | dateXime] by
<field or expression>

Sorts the current stack, moving cards as necessary.
Defaults are ascending order and text.

Examples:
Sort by field 1

Sort by last word of field Name

Sort by field LastNarae

Sort descending numeric by field 3

Sort by field (Termdate- field HireDate)

Sort by date

Sort by dateTime

APPENDIX 2 411

Subtract <source> from
< destination >

Subtracts the number in the source from the number
in the destination and puts the ansv/er in the desti-
nation. The same as Put <destination>- <source>
into <destination>. Note that the order of the num-
bers is backwards from using a minus sign (A-B is
written Subtract B from A). Destination must be a
container.

Examples:

Subtract 5 from total
subtract field 1 from field B

Type <source> [with shiftKey |
optionKey | commandKey]

The same as if you had typed manually.
Available whenever you could manually type text.

Example:

Choose Browse tool

Click atthe locofcard field 1

Type "I can type this all by myself."

Visual [effect] <name of effect>

Sets up a visual effect to occur at the next Go com-
mand. You can stack up several visual effects to occur
one after another. The modifiers slowly, fast, very
slowly, and very fast will change the speed.

412 APPENDIX 2 HYPERTALK COMMANDS

Examples:

visual effect zoom open

visual wipe left --the word "effect" is optional
visual dissolve slowly

visual effect scroll left to gray -- "to gray" is an added effect
7i3ual effects you can type include:

zoom open iris open barn door open

zoom close (or iris close barn door close

zoom out, zoom wipe left scroll left

in) wipe right scroll right

dissolve wipe up scroll up

chec^^erboar(a wipe down scroll down

Venetian blinds

You can combine effects with the adverbs very fast,
fast, slow, very slow, slowly, very slowly. {You see this
difference between fast and very fast only on a Mac-
intosh II.)

Wait [for] <number of ticks>
wait [for] <number> seconds
wait until <true or false expression>
wait while <true or false expression>

Pauses doing the commands in the script for a certain
amount of time.

Examples:

wait 50 — ticks ( LOfh
wait 3 seconds
wait until the mouse is
wait while the mouse is
wait for A seconds

of a second )
up

down

Write <source> to file <fileName>
Write text to an ASCII file. Additional commands

APPENDIX 2 413

write where the previous ones left off. See Open file,
Read file, and Close file.

Examples:
write field 3 to file "export V

write "The topics are" & return & "as follows " to file "export 1"

New Commands

You can also define your own commands that use
exisnng HyperTalk commands.

Define new commands by including the name of the
command in a Message Handler:

on bk

go to card 1 of next background
end bk

When you send the message "bk" in the Message box
or a script (by saying "send bk to <object>,"
HyperCard knows what to do by what follows "on
bk."

Commands you define follow the same rules of in-
heritance as any message.

Appendix 3

Moving Resources

Sounds and icons are stored as Macintosh resources. With
most appUcations you never deal with resources; they belong
to the technical world of Macintosh programmers. But with
HyperCard you may want to add sound or icon resources
from other stacks or create your own new resources from
scratch.

A resource can be attached to either a stack or to HyperCard
itself. The advantage of adding a resource to HyperCard is
that it's then available to any stack. The advantage of adding
a resource to a stack is that it stays with that stack when you
give it to a friend who may be using a different copy of
HyperCard or a different Home stack. Of course, you can
attach resources to more than one stack. If you attach a re-
source to more than one stack, however, resources will take
up more space on the disk than if you attach them to the
Home stack or to HyperCard itself.

APPENDIX 3 415

One way to copy icon resources among stacks is to
copy a button that uses the resource you want. The
button's icon resource is copied along with the but-
ton. Whenever you subsequently click Icon in any of
this stack's Button Info dialog boxes, you'll see the
new icon in the icon directory. The icons displayed in
the icon directory are those attached as resources to
the current stack or to HyperCard itself.

A more generalized way to get at and move any re-
source, including icons and sound, is to use a resource
editor. You can use ResEdit or MinlServant, which
was written by Macintosh programmer Andy Hertz-
feld. MiniServant is available from most user groups
and software bulletin boards. It greatly simplifies
moving and editing resources, especially sound (re-
source type snd ), functions (XFCN), and custom
commands (XCMD) that Macintosh programmers
write to extend HyperCard's capabilities. Note that
there's a space character following the snd for sound
resources. It's important that you include this space
character.

The "Flash" XCMD, written by Bill Atkinson, is in-
cluded with HyperCard as an example of whar you
can do with an XCMD. Stacks you purchase may
include these resources.

MiniServant '

Here's how to use MiniServant to move existing
resources:

Double-click the MiniServant application to start the
MiniServant application. It behaves very much like
the Finder with some differences — notably a grabber

416 APPENDIX 3 MOVING RESOURCES

hand to move around, and a zoom lens to move in
for a closer look.

To copy a resource from an existing stack:

1. Select the stack whose resources you want to copy.

2. Choose Resource Open from the File menu.

This command gives you a new view into the
information in a stack, letting you see and edit
its resources.

3. Select the stack you want to copy the resource to.

4. Choose Resource Open from the File menu.

If the stack doesn't have a resource fork,
MiniServant creates a new one.

5. Drag the resource you want to copy from the stack
it's in to the stack you want it copied to. (Double-
click any sound resource to hear what it sounds like.)

You can copy resources only among resource
windows. The Macintosh will beep if you try
to drag a resource anywhere else. You can
copy multiple resources by Shift-clicking to se-
lect more than one resource. And you can
open resources for HyperCard, the System, or
any Macintosh file.

To edit an icon resource:

1. Select the stack that contains the icon you want to
edit.

2. Choose Resource Open from the File menu.

3. Double-cUck the "Type icon" resource icon.

4. Double-click any icon resource.

5. Click dots black or white to change the icon.

APPENDIX 3 417

ResEdit

You can also use another program called ResEdit to
copy or create new resources. You can purchase
ResEdit from the Apple Programmers and Devel-
oper's Association (APDA), 290 SW 43rd Street, Ren-
ton, WA 98055. Their phone number is (206) 251-
6548.

Appendix 4

System Requirements

and Comforts

Memory

HyperCard requires 750K of memory to work with the Paint
tools. You'll need about 600K to work without them. {You'll
get a dialog box informing you that the Paint tools can't be
used if there isn't enough memory.) Oon't use the RAM
cache, Switcher, or any multiapplication environment unless
you have more than one megabyte of memory.

Disk Space

You can run HyperCard from a single disk if you're limiting
your work to phone lists and calendars. (One disk in the

APPENDIX 4 419

HyperCard set is a minimal collection of stacks,
HyperCard, and a slimmed-down System Folder.)
But realistically you need at least an external 800K
disk drive in addition to the built-in disk drive. And
to be really comfortable you'll probably want a bard
disk.

The following are the minimal versions of system
software required to use HyperCard. (Check version
numbers in the Finder by selecting the icon and
choosing Get Info from the File menu.)

Mac Plus

System 3.2 +
Finder 5.3 +
LaserWriter 4.0

Macintosh SE

System 4.0 +
Finder 5.4 +
LaserWriter 4.0

Macintosh II
System 4.1
Finder 5.5
LaserWriter 4.0

Index of Hints

Chapter 1

Opening an application or a stack from the Finder. 15
The Home card versus rhe Open File command. I a
The Undo Key, Undo Paint, and Recent dialog box, 19
Using the Button tool to copy and create new hiittons. 24
Enter text m a consistent way for easier printing and sorting. 26
The shape of the pointer tells you when vou can edit text ''7

Pick ^'Jj^^ie^t '"to the Message Box by Command-clicking or dtagging using the Browse

Found text IS highlighted with an enclosing rectangle rather than inverse video 29
Including three beginnmg letters of one or more words you're searching for allows

HyperCard to do its fastest search. 30
A stad(, ba^ckground, or card's script can specify automatic opening of the Message

Type "Go" followed hy the name of a stack (the entire srack name enclosed in quotation
marks), and press the Return or Fnier key as a shortcut to »pcnmg a stack 3 1

Make a copy of any stack you don't want to alter. All changes m HvperCard are au-
tomatically saved. 31

Set the level of changes you're allowed to make hy clicking a checkbox on the User

I reterences card — the last card in the F^ome stack. U
An I-beam appears over a text field only when the field is unlocked, 33
Chapter 1

Differences between MacPaint and HyperCard pictures. 3S

Cards in a stack are atranged in a circle. You can get to the last card bv pressing the
left arrow from the first card. You can get to the first catd by pressing the right
arrow from the last card. 39 p o

Choose Alarm Clock from the Apple menu to check that it's set to the current time and

date. Many stacks depend on the clock being set right. 40
Use the Open Stack command to open copies you've backed up bv copying them m the

hnder or choosing Save A Copy. 42
'Tear-off" the Tools or Patterns menus by dragging down and beyond the menu. 42
Keep the tools window out while you're making design changes to vour stack Drag it

by Its top bat to move it. Click the close box to put it awav 42
When you're using the Paint tools, the Undo key undoes your last painting action To

hack up to other cards you've seen, hold down the Command key while vou press

the Undo key. 44

When you're about to embark on a major change using the Paint tools, keep interme-

INDEX 421

diate changes by choosing Keep from the Paint menu. Later choose Revert to revert
to those changes, as long as you're still at the same card and are still using the
Paint tools. 45

When any Paint tool is selected, the Cut and Copy commands in the Edit menu apply
to pictures. 4B

Checking Power Keys in the User Preferences card automatically checks it until you

unchcck il {even if you've quit and restarted HyperCard). 49
You can revert to kept changes or to the way the card was when you came to it as long

as you don't leave the current card or choose a tool other than a Paint tool. 50
Get in the habit of Copying rather than Cutting images, especially when you're copying

from Art ideas or one of the other collection stacks. 50
The Daccbook contains two calendars plus a To Do list. Three buttons on the Home

card take you to various parts of the Datebook. 52
Pictures within HyperCard are always parted opaque. 54

Checkmg Power Keys in the Options menu turns them on for this session only. Check
[hem on the User Preferences card to keep them checked across sessions. 55

Whenever you want to use the same picture on more than half of the cards in a stack,
put it in the background. 56

The Weekly Calendar, Yearly Calendar, and To Do list, are examples of using more
than one background in the same stack. 56

When there is no insertion point in the Message Box or anywhere else. HyperCard puts
anything you type into the Message Box. 57

HyperCard maintains consistency with MacPaint by using the top left key to undo
changes. Press Command as well as the top left key to retrace steps. 58

When you're in the background, slanted lines appear in the menu bar. 59

When you're looking at a card's background, you see only the background picture, but
when you are looking at the card, you see both the card picture and any back-
ground picture underlying it. 60

In HyperCard, the marching ants that surround a selection disappear when you drag
the selection, fi I

Each card is the full screen size of a Macintosh Plus. 65

Choosing Grid from the Options menu avoids gray seams. 66

Holding down the Option key copies the selected area. Holding down the Shift Key
keeps the copy aligned. 67

You don't have to be in the background to change the shape, style, font, or size of a
background field. You need to he in the background only when you create a hack-
ground iield. 70

Use the Address stack for any kind of miscellaneous information. 72
Create different text styles by using separate fields for the text you want to differentiate,
72

Use Paint text for special cases when you want to embed bold or italic words within a
plain text style. 74

Ways to determine whether a button belongs to a background or a single card, 75
Upper or lowercase in button names. 79
The button icon dialog box. 8]

Chapter 3

Cards that use the same background don't necessarily have to be next to each other in
the stack. 91

Copy a stack in the Finder to make an identical copy; use the New Stack command to
copy just the current background without the text or any card-specific information.
91

422 INDEX

Pressing the Tab key is a shortcut for selecting the next field. 96

You i;an change a fielil'^ style when it's selected using the Field tool, ot when its text \s
selected using the Browse tool. 99

Although all test in a field shares the same font and style choices, you can add a new
style by creating a new field. 99

Double-clicking either a font or size choice also confirms all style changes and puts
away the text style dialog box. 99

Choose background from the Edit menu to make any changes to the background pic-
ture, but modify background fields and buttons ftom cither the card or back-
ground. 100

Create "shared" text by using Paint text in the background. 102

Normally, pictures are pasted into the same relative position they were cut or copied

from, but when you paste in text as Paint text, HyperCard pastes it into the center

of the scteen. 103

Holding down the Shift key while you draw a line with the Line tool constrains the line

to horizontal, vertical, or 45 degrees. 108
Command-click with the Pencil tool to enter Fatbits at an exact spot. lOH
Where you arc when you choose New Stack determines the background for your new

stack. 11.3

If HyperCard can't find a stack if needs, it presents the Standard File dialog box, where

you can click on the intended stack. 114
Remember to check your Alarm clock if a stack is not working properly. 1 15
Command-2 and Command-3 do the same things as the left and right arrow keys, in

case your Macintosh keyboard doesn't have arrow keys. 1 15
Some buttons you can copy and paste without knowing how to write scripts. 117
The Message box isn't just fot Find. You can also type "Go" followed by the name of

the stack you want to go to. 117
Use icons with buttons when you can, to save yourself having to create a separate

piaure. 119

You don't have to be in the background to modify a background button or field. 121
Chapter 4

Try to anticipate what your stack will do and plan it from the start. 126

If you don't sec the Objects menu, click Author or a higher level on the User Preferences

card. 129
Compacting stacks for speed. 130

Choose Cancel in a dialog box when you don't want to change anything. 131
HyperCard builds a path name from choices you make in the Standard File dialog box.
132

Finding out how many backgrounds exist in the current stack. 132

Be consistent in the wder you entet names, last name first or first name first. 133

Pressing the Tab key selects the next field. 133

Enter phone numbers in a consistent way. 134

Immediately choose Undo to recover a card you really didn't want to delete. 136
Surround stack names of more than one word with quotation marks. 141
Make a miniature picture by copying a card and holding down the Shift key while you
paste. 142

Hide or show the menu bar by holding down the Command key while you press the
space bar. 144

When you are using the Paint tools, the top left key does what it's always done in
MacPaint. 144

INDEX 423

You can copy any picture to paste onto a card or background. 145

You don't need to be in the background to edit background button structure. 146

You can get rid of a button by clicking it with the Button tool to select it and then

choosing Cut Button or Clear Button, or pressing the Backspace key. 147
Dragging from an edge outward changes a button's size; dragging inward makes it

smaller; dragging from rhe center moves it. 148
Lining up buttons. 149

For obscure fonts, you might want to usie Paint text because a person you give your

stack to might not have the specified font in their System file. 151
Hints about Paint text. 152

A card includes everything you can see on the screen. 153
Ways you can modify Paint text while you are typing it. 1 53
Use Paint text in the backgtound to create "shared" text, 155
Still more about Paint text. 156

Choosing Select or pressing Command-S just after you've typed text selects the text.
156

Choosing Keep gives you a picture to revert to. 157
Another warning about setting your clock, 158

You can edit background fields without being in the background. 158
When you can change text style. 158

Nothing IB frozen until you check Can't Modify Stack from the Protect Stack dialog
box. 160

How to move a field from a card to the background. 161
You can always modify a field later, 163
Aligning fields. 164

Labels you type to identify a field are completely separate from the field's actual name,
165

Moving a field to line up with Paint text, 1 65

The Tab key moves you through background fields and then card fields. 166
Moving fields to line things up. 167

When referring to fields in scripts, use the exact field name. 167
Changing the order of fields. 167

The Home card is a visual directory, not an official directory. 169
How to get to the first card in a stack. 1 70

HyperCard knows what's on the clipboard-text, pictures, buttons, fields, or entire cards.
171

Losing a selection by clicking outside it. 172
Checking alignment among pictures. 173

Some Commands are dimmed when you are using the Paint tools. 176
Chapter 5

If there is a selection in the Message box, typing replaces only the selection; otherwise

typing replaces everything. 186
Where does your typing go? 1 88

When an object is unnamed, HyperCard uses its ID. 190
About the Objects menu. 191

Pressing Return or Enter performs whatever action is in the Message bo.\. 193
HyperTalk commands are separate from the commands you see in menus. 194
The word "to" and quotation marks are usually optional m gomg to a stack. 195
HyperCard builds pathnames. 196

Double-clicking a button is a shortcut for seeing its Button Info dialog box. 196

424 INDEX

Set your level to scripting to be able to edit scripts. 198

A message handler is a control structure. 201

CapitalizatLim n just a cnnvencion, not j rule. 201

You can choose from a list of special visual effects. 201

Click Cancel when you don't want to keep changes to a script. 202

Weigh the extra work of naming objects against the amount of clarity it provide'; in

reading scripts that use the objects, 204
Avoiding confusion about object names. 207
The ways in which you can refer to an object. 208

The OK button accepts the script including any changes you have made. 208
Looking at existing scripts i>i a good way to learn the sttucture and logic of HyperCard
scripts. 211

A line is a piece of text that is enclosed by Return characters. 212

Cut and Paste in and among .scripts usmg the Comtnatid key equivalents. Menus aren't

available while you're editing scripts. 216
Separate lines in a script using Return characters. 217
Use the Tab key to check scripts' alignment. 21K

Pressmg the Enter key is a shortcut for clicking OK when you are editing a script. 218
Clicking on a button with the Browse fool carries out its actions; clicking with the

Button tool selects the button for further action such as changing its size or looking

at its Button Info dialog box, 219
The Objects tnenu is visible only when the User Preferences card is set to Authoring or

Scripting, 220

Put message handlers at the level in the object hierachy that includes all the objects (but

no more) that you want to respond to a message. 222
When you name an object the same name as a HyperCard command or keyword, be

sure to use that name in quotes. 224

Chapter 6

You don't have to be in the background to adjust a background. tie Id or button. 231
Buttons you create by Command-dragging are preset to the transparent style. Buttons

you create with the New Button command are preset to rounded rectangles. 232
You don't have to name buttons. 233

In most Macintosh applications, pressing the Return key is the safest way to close a
dialog but in HyperCard Return often accepts the changes you bave made. 233

Constrain a button's height to the height of a standard Macintosh button by holding
down the Shift key while you adjust its size or shape, 234

Holding down the Shift key while you double-click a button, take.s you directly to the
button's script. 236

The add command requires a numeric value. 238

The Tab key takes you to the next field, 238

Don't use dollat signs when you want to do arithmetic on information in fields. 239

A field with no value in it is automatically assumed to be 0. 240

Most of the commands you construct with HypetTalk sound quite English-like. 241

HyperCard tries to indent scripts automatically. 242

Try out commands using the Message box and pressing Return. 245

The "send" command lets any object send a message to another object. 246

Hold down the Shift while moving buttons to align them. 247

Pressing the Shift key while you open an Info dialog box is a shortcut to get to scripts,
249

Use the Return key to start each new line in the script. Press the Tab key to straighten
out any indent errors. 250

INDEX 425

The Message box is available from within scripts as well as from the Edit menu. 250
Not moving linked cards from their original folder ensures the links wdl always work.
254

Keeping linked stacks within the same folder keeps path names shurter. 254

If you have a large-screen Macintosh, the current stack name is always visible ac the

top i)f the window. 255
The "lockscreen" command hides the action from the screen. 256
The order of printing fields with the Print Report dialog is the order of the fields them-
selves from bai;k(l) to front. 262
All print dialog settings are saved with individual stacks. 262

Chapter 7

Putting a button in the background keeps it in one place within that background. 270
if you want to lasso a picture and tnake it opaque, be sure it does not have any "leaks"
in its ciuriine, 278

As your Mother said, always put things back the way you found them. 304
Chapter 8

An item is a group of characters separated by commas. 324
A variable is a container, like a field. 341

Chapter- 9

Hints about importing text. 359

Index

Abbreviated date format, 399
About tomniaiid, i76
Absolute refftences, 204-207
A(;ciimul.itor, it variable as, 397
Add aimmand, 238, .lyz
Adding

of backerounds to slacks, 287-289, 395
of buttons, 173-175

of cards to stacks, 34, 100-105, 132-135,
336-337, 381

of pictures ro vi'eckly calendar, 38-45

of resources tii stack, 416

of text CO fields, 31, 71-72

of text fields, 97
Address stack

enlarging appearance of cards in, 64-67

enlarging fields in, 68-71

searching in, 26-31
After, with Put command, 338
Alarm clock, 1(1, 40, 115, 158
Alert messages, Answer command for, 310
Align Right command, 151
Align ment

of buttons, 149

of margins, 153-154

of pictures, 295-299

and selection rectangle, 173
Alphabetical order, sorting stacks into. 26, 136-
139

Ampersand for string concatenation, 342
Animation, 301-304
Answer command. 212, 398

as alen message, 310
Apple menu, 376-377
AppleTalk, 360
Arithmetic. See Calculations
Arrow keys for navigation, 20
ArrowKey system messages, 320
Art Ideas stack, 89, 266

borrowing pictures from, 45-55
Artists for graphics design, 272-273
Ascending option, 217

Ask command, 240, 244, 398
Atkinson, Bill

design philosophy of, xxiv-xxv

Flash XCMD by, 415

on HyperCard, xiii-xix

quoted, 1, K7, 183
Author User Level, 68, 374
Auto hilite check box, 121,233

B, for musical flats, 361, 407
Back command, 18-20, 383
Background buttons, 118-119,279
compared to card buttons, 75, 306
linking of, CO cards, 105-111
modification of, 100
moving of, 121
and new stacks, 90
Background command, 58-59, 97, 100 103

152, .?82
Background fields, 32-33, 384
creation of, 160-165
deletion of, 104
modification of, 70, 99-100
and tab key, 96, 133, 166-167, 238
Background pictures, 16-17, 37, 276
and animation, 302
compared to card pictures, 55-60
modification of, 99-100, 139-146
shrinking of, 62-63
Backgrounds, 17
adding of, to stacks, 287-289, 395
and Backlnfo command, 394
editing of, 97

finding of, with scripts, 328-329
inheritance of, 32-33, 91
and laycri, 275-291
multiple, 56, 91, 132, 285-286
and New Stack command, 1 13, 125, 128 252-
255

and Paint text, 151-155,292-293
and Stack Ideas stack, 92, 140

INDEX 427

and Stack Info commiind, 132

system messages for, 320
Backspate key for deletion, 242

of buttons, 147

of cards, 136

of charatrers, 34, 153

of fields, 104
Bar codes, script tii generate, 345-347
Barn door open and close effect, 300, 413
Beep comttiand, 398

Before, with Put command, 237-238, 405

Big background buttons, 306

Billing stack example. See Designing of stacks

Bills, designing, 139-146

Bkgnd Info command, 394

Black for definition and depth, 270

Blind typing check box, 193

Boing sound, 339, 161, 407

Borders, 270

for background buttons, 75, 1 18

and rectangle tool, 385
Borrowing

of pictures, 45—55

for stack building, 88
Bring Closer command, 167, 262, 279-281, 394
Browse tool, 384

clicking buttons with, 21
Browsing, stacks for, 272
Brush shape command, 391
Building of stacks, 87

by borrowing and collecting, 88—89

by copying buttons, 1 16-121

new monthly calendar stack, 111-121

with Stack Ideas stack, 92-111

starting, 90-91
Built-in information and HyperCard, 88
Burke, James (quoted), 36
Busmess logos, adding of, to stacks, 154-157
Button Ideas stack, copying buttons from, US-
UI

Button Info command, 196-199, 393
Button cool, 24, 68, 118, 173, 210, 384

for customizing stacks, 74-80

for deletion of buttons, 146-147

for size and shape, 231
Buttons, 21-25, 74

alignment of, 149

background vs. card, 75

for calculations, 229-235

clicking of, with Browse tool, 21

commands with, 194-202

copying of, 116-121

creation of, 77-80, 395

deletion of, 146-147

designing of, 146-149

editing scripts of, 208-209, 214-219, 235-240
highlighting of, 118, 121, 233

home, 21

and icon resources, 416
icons for, 80-84
IDs for, 79

keeping track of. 304-306
library for, xvii

hnking of, to cards, 81-84, 105-1 If

moving of, 148-149

naming of, 232-233

navigation with, 75-77

for new stacks, 173—175

size and shape of, 148, 231, 233-234

for subtraction, 240—245

system messages for, 3 1 8

testing of new, 115-116

See Background buttons; Card buttons

C language

and HyperCard, 317

and XCMD, 336
Calculations, 192-194

button for, 229-235

and Paint Itxt, 292

See alsij specific arithmetic commands
Calendar button, 1 1 1
Calendats

monthly, creation of new, 111-121

weekly, adding pictures to, 38—45
Cancel in dialog boxes, 131, 202
Can't Modifv Stack check box, 160
Card buttons, 118-119, 279

compared to background buttons, 75, 306

hiding stack buttons with, 283-285
Card fields, 161, 384
Card Ideas stack, 89. 140
Card Info command. 393
Card pictures, 17, 37, 276

compared to background pictures, 55-60

for differentiating cards, 107-1 1 1

opaque, 61-63
Cards, 16-17

adding of, to stacks, 34, 100-104, 132-135,
336-337, 381

arrangement of, 39
' copying of, 288-289, 382

deletion of, 34, 136, 378, 381

IDs for, 2(14

inherited backgroundi, 91
linking buttons to, 81-84, 105-11 1
and messages, 1 92
printing of, 175,379

pushing and popping of, 333-335, 408-409
referring to, 208

separating fields from, in files, 359
system messages for, 319
See also Navigation
Case sensitivity, 28, 79, 195, 201

428 INDEX

Centering of fields, '>6
Charaaers, deletion of, 34, 153
Chats with Find command, 403
Chcci(erboard effect, 299, 412
Choohe command, 323, 3y9
Chooser desk accessory, 177
Circles, tool for, 387
Circling of dates, 3S-45
Clear Buicon command. 147
Clear cammand, 3H 1
Click command, 399
Clicking, 21

and object order, 282
Client billing stack. See Designing of stacks
Clip Art stack, 45
Clipboard

and pictures, 54, 64, 360

and text, 102-11)3, 382
Clocks, ID, 40, 115, 15K, 224
Close Hie command, 399
Close printing command, 406-407
CloseHield message, 222-224
Coin button, script in, 337-339
Collecting for stack building, 89
Command key

dragging of, 28, 77
for scripts, 216

for shrinking and enlarging pictures, 63
Command-1 for First, 107
Command-2 for Previous, 115
Command-3 fnr Next, 115
Command-I" for Help, 21
Ciimmand-backspace for card deletion, 136
Command-down arrow to push cards, 20
Command-eraser ro erase lines, 108
Command-H for Home, 18, 20
Command-left arrow for First, 170
Command-N for New Card, 101
Conimand-opnim for background buttons, 75,
118

Comniand-S for Select, 48-49, 156
Command-shifl-3 for scrt-cn shots, 307
Command-space bar for hiding menus, 144
Command-tildf to retrace steps, 19, 44
Ctimmand-up arrow to pop cards, 20
Command-V for pasting pictures, 64, 145, 171
Commands, 194, 396-414

and burtons, 194-202

external, 317, 336

and Message box, 31

in scripts, 323

testing of, in Message box, 245

See ahu specific commands
Commas with arguments, 326
Commenls in scripts, 322-323
Compact Stack command, 129-130, 377-378
Computed go command, 333

Concatenation of strings, 34Z
Consistency

of data, and sorting, 26, 133
in design, 269-270
Containers, 202

variables as, 341
Control structures, 200, 242

if . . . then . . . else, 212-213
Convert command, 400
Coordinates
screen, 323, 341
of too! window, 331, 375
Copy Button command, 1 19
Copy Card command, 170-1 71, 382
Copy command, 381

and ID numbers, 206
Copy Current Background check box, 1 13, 377
Copy Picture command, 144
Copying

of buttons, 116-121
of cards, 288-289.382
of fields, 163-164
and IDs, 206
and Paint ttxt, 291-292
of pictures, 48

and Stack Idcjs stack, 93-94
of stacks, 10. 90-91,377
of text, 33
Creation

of burtons, 77-80
of fields, 160-165,395
of new monthly calendar, 111-121
of stacks, 94-97, 125-128, 252-255
Cursor keys for navigation, 20
Customisation

and HyperCard, xv
of stacks, 36

with Button icons, 80-84
with Button tool, 74-8(1
uitli Field tool, 67-74
with Paint tools, 37-67
of text appearance, 72-74
See ahii Designing of stacks
Cut Hutton command, 147
Cut Card command, 382
Cut command, 380
Cut Text command, 102-103
Cutting

and Paint te>>t, 291-292
of pictures, 299
in scripts, 216

Darken command, 49-50, 389
Data in card pictures, 109-110
Database files, importing and exporting of, 355-
359

INDEX 429

Dare, 185-187
and Convert ctimmand, .199
sortine by, 214-219
Daccbook stack, 41, 52
Dateltcms format, .199
DateTimc modifier, 2 1 7-2 IS
Definition
of messages, location of, ^3 S-i36
screen, gray and black for, 270
Delete Card command, 34, 381
Delete i:ommand, 1 (14, 400
Delete Stack command, ,178, 381
Deletion
of buttons, 146-147
of cards, 34, 136, 378, 381
of characteri, 34, 153
of fields. 104
of lines, 108
of stacks, 378,381
of text, 34, 400
Depth, screen, gray and black for, 270
Descending option, 217
Designing of stacks, 123
adding of features, 229-251
appearance, 139-146
buttons, 146-149
functions, 124-139
and Hamecard, 169-175
with Paint text, 149-157
text fields, 157-165
Destmation wmdow, 376

with LinkTo, 82-83, 2a4-2U5
Dial button and ciimmand, 146, 400
Dialing with a modem command, 401-402
Directory, stack, 17, 169
Disk space requirements, 418
Dissolve effect, 299-300, 413
Divide command, 401
Df) command, 401

Dfillar signs and arithmetic operations, 239
Do.Mcnu command, 194, 323, 402-403
Do-nothing buttons, 283

Double borders for bacisground buttons, 75, 118

Doyle, Ken, stack indexer script by, 347-350

Drag command, 402

Dragging, setting speed of, 302, 304

Draw Centered command, 392

Draw Filled command, 192

Draw iMultiple command, 392

Drop shadow effect, 270

Duplication of stacks, 10, 90-91, 377

Edit menu, 380-382
Edit Pattern command, 192
Edit script of command, 402-403
F.diting
of backgrounds, 97

of button scripts, 208-209, 214-219, 215-240

and I-beam cursor, 27, 33, 40-41, 133, 384

and Paint text, 149

of scripts, 403

stacks for, 272

of text, 32-34
Education and HyperCard, 367-368
End if statements, 242
Knd statements, 200, 218
Enlarging

of buttons, 148

of Paint text, 156-157

of pictures, 61

of text fields, 67-71
Enter key

and Message box, 193

for OK, 218
EntcrKey message, 320
Eraser tool, 385

Escape key ro retrace steps, 19-20
Espinosa, Chris (quoted), 264
Export Paint command, 360, 379
Exporting, 378-379

of pictures, 36(J

of text, 356-359
External commands, 317, 136

Farr, Mike, stack merging script by, 329-331

Fast, with visual effects, 412

FatBits command, 1118-1 10, 385, 391

Felsenstein, Lee (quoted), 153

Field Info command, 167, 393

Field tool, 97-99, 158-159, 384

for customi/ing stacks, 67-74

for field creation, 161

and insertion point, 167
Fields, 32

adding of, 97

adding text to, 71-72

adjustment of, 157-165

as containers, 202

copying of, 163-164

creation of, 160-165, 395

deletion of, 104

enlarging of, 67-71

filling in of, 166-168

fonts, siie, and style in, 72-73, 97-99

hiding and showing of, 309-310, 312

identification of, 151-154

inheritance of, 32-31

locating of, with tab key, 96, 133, 238

locked, 71, 348

naming of, 162, 164, 167

numbering of, 1 67

ordering of, 281

and Paint text, 150, 292, 294, 298
pop-up, 295, 308-31 1

430 INDEX

Fields (conliniled)
printing of, 176, 262
proportits iif, 97-100, ISS, .124. 3R4
separaring card* fnim, in files, 35i)
sorting hy, 3 I 2
system messages for, 319
and text, 292, 294
values in, 240

>See also Background fields; Card fields
File Index stack, 336-337
File Menu, 377-380
Files

closing iif, 399

importing and cMpurrnig of, 355-360, 378-
379

reading from, 409

writing to, 412—413
till command, 3H8
Filling in fields, 166-16S
Find eiimmand, 25-31, 194, 403

limiting scope of, 343-344

^nd Paint text, 292

i'ci' alsti Searching
First command, IS), 107, 170, 383
Flash XCMD, 415
Flats, musical, 361, 406
Flip Horizontal command, 390
Hip Vertical command, 390
Fiilders, 114, 130

and linked card'i, 254
Font button, 163
Fonts

In fields, 72-73, 97-99

in graphics design, 269

and Paint text, 150-151, 292-294, 3S7

and System file, 72, 151

and Text Style command. 382
Form and content, and HyperCard, 368-369
FrameLeftO function, 338-339
Free space and Free in Space, 129, 378
Fretform shape tool, 386
Frog Jump script. 302-303
Front-to-back-order of objects, 279-28 I
Functions, 1 S8, 338-339. See also specific
functions

Gathering of information, .169-370
Get command, 326, 403
Global command, 331), 403^04
Glossary stack, llmltmg scope in. 343-344
Go command, 20-21, 195,404

computed, 333

and Find command, 403

and inheritance, 316

and Message box, 1 17

and visual effects, 3011
Go menu, 18-19, 383-384

Graphics. See Pictures

Gray, for definition and depth, 270

Grid command, 66, 391

Harpslcord sound, 361, 406
Headers

control of, 307

lining up of, 297-298
Height box, 382
Help command, 18-19, 383
Help Index stack, 290
Help Samples stack, 290-291
Help stack, 191. 290
Help system message, 321
Hcrtzteld, Andy, MiniServant by. 415-416
Hide command. 308, 404-405
Hiding

of fields, 308-31 1

of menu bar. 144

of stacks, 307
Hierarchies, naming, 203-204
Hierarchy and message handlers, 225-226
Highlighting

of buttons, lis. 121, 233

of text, 29
Him bits for searching, 30
Home burtons, 21
Home card, 14-15, 18

adding new stacks to. 169-175
Home command, 18-19,383
Home stack. 14-15, 18, 169
Horizontal screen coordinates, 323, 331, 341
HyperCalc stack, 23, 191,332
HyperCard

as bulletin board, 1—3

as software erector set, xiii-xvii
Hypermedia, HyperCard as, 366-367
HyperTalk scripts, 184-185, 194

I-beam cursor and editing, 27, 33, 40, 133. 384
Icon resources and buttons. 416
Icons, 198

for buttons. 80-K4

copying buttons with, 1 19

dialog box for. 81
Idle message, 320
IDs, 190, 206-207

for buttons, 79

for cards, 204
If . . . then . . . else control structure, 212-213
If statements, 242
Import MacPaint command, 360
Import Paint command, 266, 360, 378-379
Importing, 379

of pictures. 360

of text, 355-358

INDEX 431

Indentation with scripts, 242-243
Indtxer

pictorial, script for, 3S0-351

stack, script for, 347-350
Information base, personal, 92-97
Inheritance, 377

of backgrounds, 9 I

of fields, 32-33

and scripts, 31S-3I8
Insertion point

and editing, 29, 33

and Field tool, 167

and Message box, 57, 1 S8
Interaction and HyperCard, \iv-xv
Into, with Put command, 237
Invert command, 388

Iris open and close effect, 201, 299-300, 412
Irregular polygon tool, 386-387
It local variable, 245, 326, 341, 397

and Ask command, 398

and Get command, 403
Items, 324

Kaehler, Carol, and HypetCard project, xvii-xix
Kaehlcr, Tc-d

music script by, 340-342

quoted, 314
Keep command, 44-45, 157, 390
Kelly, Kevin (quoted), 123
Kerns, Charles (quoted), 228
Keyboard

musical, 340-341

for navigation, 20-21

Labels, printing of, 1 76-178

Largest number in list, script to find, 337-139

Lasso tool, 385

compared to selection rectangle, 47-49, 278
Last command, I 9, 384
Layers

and backgrounds, 275-291

temporary, 63—64
Learning and HyperCard, 367-368
Levels for objects, 222
Lighten command, 49-50, 389
Line Size command, 391
Lines, 212

drawing of, with Shift key, 108

space between, 382
Lines tool, 385

Linking and LinkTo command, 106-107, 174-
175, 204-205
of buttons to cards, SI-84, 105-111
and folders, 254
script for, 207-209
and stacks, 13 1-132

LinkTo button, 81-83

Lists, finding largest number in, 337-339

Local variable it, 245, 326, 341, 397

Lock screen command, 256

Lock Text command, 7]

Locked fields, 71, 348

Logical references, 204-207

Logos, adding of, to stacks, 154-157

Long date format, 399

Long time format, 399

Look for Stacks In card, 130-131, 254, 407
Loops, 327, 331

MacPaint

compared to Paint tools, 38

history of manual for, xxiii-xxiv

importing and exporting files of, 360, 378-379
Margins, alignment of, 153-154
MaxLineO function, 338-539
Memory requirements, HyperCard, 418
Menu bar, 59, 144

Menus, 373-374, 376-395. See also specific
menus

Merging of stacks, script for, 329-331
Message box

and command key dragging, 28

as container, 202

entering commands in, 31

and Co command, 1 1 7

and insertion points, 57, 188

and scripts, 185-194, 250

testing commands in, 245
Message handlers

and control, 200-202

hierarchy of, 225-226
Message window, 376
Messages

and cards, 192

script to locate definition of, 335-336

sending of, 246

system, 223-225, 318-321
Miniature pictures, 142

creation of, 170-173
Minimalism and HyperCard, 370
MiniServant, 415—416 '
Modems and Dial command, 400-401
Monthly calendar, creation of new, 1 1 1-121
Mouse

location of, 187

system messages fot, 318-319
MouseDown command, 200
MouseUp command, 200-201
Moving

of buttons, 121, 148-149 ' '

of text, 33
Multiply command, 405
Music. See Sound

432 INDEX

Names, 188-191,202

for bucmns, 232-233

and case sensirivity, 201

for fields. 162, 164, lf>7

quotation marks for, 140-141, 195, 224

for stacks, 95-96, 113-114, 127-12S, 195
Naming hierarchies, 20."?- 204
Navigation

witli buttons, 75-77

and Go menu, 18-19,383-384

with keyboard, 20-21
Networks. 360

New Background command, 287-288, 395

New Button command, 77, 232, 395

New Card command, 34, 101-102, 289, 381

New Field command, 97, 395

New Stack command, 90, 94-96, 126-127, 377
and backgrounds, 1 13, 128
compared to Save a Copy command, 91
See also Buildmg of stacks

Next command, 1 15, ,183

Notes, musical, 339-342, 361-362, 406-407

Numeric values, 238

Objects, 128
Il3s for, 206

and inheritance, 315-318
names of, 188-191,202
numbering of, 1 67
order uf, 279-281
scripts for, 219-226
Objects menu, 77, 128-129, 191, 219-226, 393-
395

Octaves in music, 340, 406
On statements, 200, 218
Opacity

and backgrounds, 276-278

and object order, 280-281

of pictures, 37, 53-55, 6 1-63, 110-11 1, 381
Opaque command, 62, 390
Open command, 3.55, 405
Open prmting command, 406
Opening of stacks and Open Stack command, 15,

18, 169, 377
Option key

for borders, 385-387

for copying, 66-67, 106-107, 163-164

for drawing shapes, 386

for lines,
Option-command for buttons, 118
Option-D for data. 109-110
Option-O for opaque, 1 10
Option-Return for lines. 212
Option-shift for copying, 66-67, 163-164
Options menu, 391-392

Ordering of objects, 279—281, See also Sorting
Outlining of buttons, 118
Oval and circle tool, 387

Page Setup command, 379
Paint bucket tool, 387
Paint menu, 388-390
Paint text. 149-157

alignment of, 295-299

for common backgrounds, 151-155

and "real" text, 102-103, 291-299

for text styles, 74

tool for, 387

Sf f a/so Text
Paint tools

adding pictures to stacks with, 37—67

user level for, 38-39
Paintbrush tool, 386
Pascal

and HyperCard, 317

and XCMD, 336
Pass command, 3 I 6
Passwords

and Protect stack command, 378

and stack privacy, 307
Paste Button command, 120
Paste command, 38 1
Paste Picture command, 64, 145, 171
Paste Text command, 103
Pasting

and Paint text, 291-292

of pictures, 50-53, 64, 299

in scripts, 216
Pathnames and Scacklnfo command, 255
Pattern window, 375
Patterns menu, 375, 393
Pauses, 412
Pencil tool, 108, 385

Periods with musical notes, 340, 361, 406
Permanent records, 25 1-262
Personal finances stack, creation of, 92—97
Phone lines, 360

and Dial command, 401
Phone numbers, consistencv in entering, 134
PickUp command, 388-389
Pictorial indcxer, script for, 350—351
Pictures, 16-17, 145

adding of, to weekly calendar, 38-45

alignment of, 295-299

background vs. card, 55—60

borrowing of, 45—55

and Card Ideas stack, 140

copying of, 48

design considerations for. 267—275
enlargmg of, 63

importing and exporting of, 360

miniature, 142. 170-173

opaque or transparent, 53— 55, 1 71 - -

Paint text as, 150-152

using Paint tools to add, 37-67

pasting of, 50-53,64, 299

to represent new stacks, 170—173

INDEX 433

shrinking of, 62-63
with tcvt, 265-273

See also Background pkturi'i; Card pictures
Pitch, musical, 361-.162
Play command, 339, 342, 361, 406-407
i'lots stack, 337-339
pDlygnn Sides command, 392
Popping of cards and Pop Card command, 20,

333-33S, 407
Pop-up fields. 308-311

and Paint text, 295
Pound sign for musical sharps, 361, 406
Power Keys command, 40, 49-50, 55, 391
Previous command, 19, 115,383
Prmt Card command, 175, 379
Print command, 407-40K
Print full siic cards check bux, I 76
Print one card per page of paper check hox, 176
Print Report command, 177-1 7S, 260-262, 380

and object order, 282
Print Stack command, 175, 379
Printing, 407-408

of cards, 175, 379

page setup command for, 379

of stacks, 138, 175-178, 260-262, 379, 406

and tab order, 280, 282
Privacy of stacks, 307-308
Private Access check box, 307
Properties

(if fields, 97-100, 158, 324, 384

of objects, 189

and Set command, 409

of text, 158
Protect Stack command, 160, 3117, 309, 37S
Pulse dialing, 400

Pushing cards and Push Card command, 20, 333-

335, 409
Put command, 237-238, 408-409

Quit HyperCard command, 380

Quit system message. 321

Quotation marks

in answLT commands, 212

for names, 140-141,195,224, 236

Read from file command, 409
Recent command, 19, 383
Records, permanent, 251-262
Rifctangle tool, 325, 385

Rectangles, script to draw, 325. See also Selection

rectangle
Rcdfern, James

bar code script by, 345-347

pictorial index script by, 350-351
References, absolute vs. logical, 204-207
Regular polygon tool, 388
Repeat command, 327, 331
Replacement of text, 34, 133, 1 86

ResEdit, 198, 417

Reset Paint command, 410

Resources, 198-199, 362-363, 4 1 4-41 7

Resume system message, 321

Retracing steps, 19

Return arrows, 283

Return key

in dialog boxes, 233

and Message box, 193

for ncwlines,2l2, 242, 250
ReturnKey message, 320
Revert command, 44-45, 1.^7, 390
Rotate Left command, 389
Rotate Right command, 389
Round rect cheek box, 79
Rounded rectangle tool, 386
Rounded rectangles, buttons as, 232

Save J Copy command, 10, 31, 377

compared to New Stack command, 91
Scope of find command, 343—344
Scrapbook desk accessory, 354
Screen

coordinates of, 324, 341

displaying windows on large, 33 1-332

locking and unlocking of, 256

and Tools wmdow, 375
Script command, 199
Scripting u^er level, 198
Scripts, 183-185, 207-209

and buttons, 194-202

command;, in, 323

going to stacks with, 226

and hierarchies, 203-204. 225-226

and inheritance, 1 15-3 I 8

and Message box, 185-194, 250

modification of, 209-21 9, 235-240. 402

and objects, 202

and Objects menu, 21 9-226

placement of, 220-223, 31.5

and references, 204-207
Scroll visual effect, 412
Searching, 65

and ob]ect order, 283

and Paint text, 102, 149, 292

script for, 326-328

See a/so Kind command
Seconds time format, 399
Select All command, 388
Select command, 156,388
Selection, message box, 186
Selection rectangle, 384

for checking alignment, 173

compared to lasso, 47-49, 278
Send command, 246, 3 ] 6

Send Farther command, 167, 262, 279-281, 394
Serial port and Dial command, 400
Set commands, 324, 409

434 INDEX

Shadowed fields, 270

Shape of buttons, 231

Shared text and I'aint text, 293-295

Sharing

of buttons, xvii

and HyperCard, 3-4
Sharps, musical, 361, 406-407
Shift key

for aligning copies, 66-67, 107, 149, 163-164,
234

with buttons, 234-236
and circles, 387

to dr^w straight lines, 108, 385

for miniature pictures, 142, 171
Short dare formal, 399
Short time format, 399
Show Lommand, 3118, 410
Show Lines command, 272
Show name check box, 79, 162, 232, 305
Shrinking

of buttons, 148

of ['aint text, 156-157

of pictures, 62-63
Simplicity and graphics, 273-275
Size

of buttons, 148, 231, 233-234

of fields, 97-99

and Paint text, 387

of stack, 129

of text, 382
Slanted lines in menu bar, 59
Slow, with visual effects, 411-412
Son burton, 137, 146, 210
Sort command, 410
Sorting

and data consistency, 26, 133
by date, 214-219
hy fields, 312
and Paint text, 292
script for, 210-212
of stacks, 136-139
Sound, 361-363,406-407
music, 24, 339-342

resources for, and MiniServant, 415-416
Space between lines, 382
Space free, .stack, 129-130
Spaces and names, 201
Speaker, Beep command for, 398
Split-page format check box, 176
Spraypamt tool, 386
Spreadsheets, 13

script for, 332
Stack buttons, hiding of, 283-285
Stack Ideas stack, 89

and backgrounds, 140

and calendar alternatives. 111

starting stacks with, 92—94

Stack Info command, 128-130, 132, 191, 394

and pathnames, 255
Stacks, 14

adding backgrounds to, 287-289, 395

adding buttons for, 173—175

adding cards to, 34, 100-105, 132-135, 336-
337, 38!

adding resources to, 414

cards in, 16—17

compaction of, 129-130, 377-378

copying of, 10, 90-91, 377

creation of, 94-97, 125-128, 252-255

deletion of, 378, 381

directory of, 18, 169

expanding capabilities of, 228—263

going to, with scripts, 226

indexer for, 347-350

merging of, script for, 329-331

multiple, 290-291

names for, 95-96, 113-U4, 127-128, 195
new, adding of, to Home card, 169—175
opening of, 15, 18, 169,377
printing of, 138, 175-178,260-262, 379,

406-408
privacy of, 307-308
protection of, 160, 378
push-down, 334 j
saving of, 10, 31, 91, 377
size of, 129

sorting of, 133, 136-139
system messages for, 320— 32i
transmission of, 360

See also Building of stacks; Customization of
stacks; Designing of stacks
Stackware, 4
StartUp message, 331
Strings, concatenation of, 342
Style

button, 79

of fields, 97-99

and Paint text, 387

of text, 74, 156, 158
Subtraction and Subtract command, 240-245,
412

Suspend system message, 321
System clack, and the date function, 224
System file, and fonts, 72, 151, 292
System messages, 223-225, 318-321
System requirements, 418—419

T, for musical triplets, 361
Tab key

for finding fields, 96, 133, 166-167, 238
and object ordering, 280, 282
for script checking, 218, 242
TabKey message, 320

INDEX 435

Target script, 3ii
Tear-off windows, 42—43
Tempo in sound, .134, 362
Temporary layers, 63-64
Text, 17

adding of, to fields, 31, 71-72

compared to Paint text, 102-103, 291-299

copying of, 33

customizing of, 72—74

deletion of, 34, 400

editing of, 32-34

with graphics, 265—273

importing and exporting of, 355-359

moving of, 33

and New Stack command, 128

properties of, 97-100, 158

replacement uf, 34, 133, 186

searching of. 25-31, 65

styles of, 74, 9S, 158.324,382

See also Paint text
Text fields, iee Fields
Texr Style command, 73-74, 98, 324, 382
The clickloc function, 341
The date function, 1K5, 224
The loc function, 323
The loc of msg message, 332
The long date function, 1H6
The mouseLoc function, 187
The name function, 189-190
The short name function, 333
The sound function, 362
The time function, 185
The tool function, 1R3
This Card with LinkTo, 82-83
This Stack with LinkTo, 82
Tilde key to retrace steps, 19-20
Time, 185-186

and Convert command, 399
To, 195

with visual effects, 300
To Do list, 52
Tools

choosing of, 323-325, 39K

current, 1 88
Tools menu, 40, 374. 384-388
Tools window, 375
Trace Edges command, 49-50, 389
Transparency of pictures, 37, 53-55, 171. 381
Transparent command, 54, 64, 276, 278, 390
Triplets, musical, 361
Tunes. See Sound
Type command. 41 1

Underlining, 270, 272
Undo command, 43-44, 380

and card delcrion, 136

for painting actions, 58, 144
Unlock screen command, 256
Unlocked fields, 71

User level and Preferences card, 6-7, 32, 129,
169, 198

and menus, 374

and Objects menu, 220

for Paint tool, 38-39

and pop-up fields, 309

Power Keys preference on, 49

and Protect Stack command, 378
User-defined commands, 413

Variables

as containers, 341

global, 330, 403-404

It, 245,326. 341,397
Venetian blinds effect, 299, 412
Vertical coordinates of screen, 324, 331, 341
Very fast, with visual effects, 41 1-412
Very slow, with vi.snal effects, 411-412
View burton, 1 18

Visual effects and Visual command, 200, 299-
300, 4im2

Wait command, 412
Weekly button, 111

Weekly calendar, addmg pictures to, 38-45
White space, adding to, 64—67
Windows, 375-376

displaying of, on large screen, 33 1-332

tear-off. 42-43

See also Destination window
Winkler. Dan, spreadsheet script by. 332
Wipe up or down effect, 299-300, 412
With, for answer commands, 212
Word, with Find command, 403
Write command, 412-413

XCMD functions, 336

and MiniServant, 415-416
XFCN functions and MiniServant, 415-416

Zoom in and out effect, 299-300, 412
Zoom lens, FatBits command as, 391

CAROL KAEHLER ^ Addison -Wesley Publishing Company

HyperCard Tower

Techniques and Scripts

'Carol Kaehler knows the tips and tricks inside HyperCard, and she shares them with
you in this book. In an afternoon with Carol, you could learn a lot."

— Bill Atkinson, creator of HyperCard

HyperCard^is Apple® Computer, Inc.'s. revolutionary new Macintosh"' program that
organizes and molds information. As a member of Apple's HyperCard development
team, Carol Kaehler brings an insider's experience to HyperCard Power.- Tech-
niques and Scripts, revealing hints, tips, and tricks for customizing HyperCard
to take advantage of its amazing power and flexibility. The book goes far beyond an
introduction to HyperCard's features to teach you the skills needed to create your
own custom HyperCard applications. In an informal sty le it provides simple, prac-
tical, hands-on lessons in every chapter

The first part of HyperCard Power: Techniques and Scripts focuses on using
HyperCard, including how to browse and customize "stacks;" the ordered collections
of cards that constitute a HyperCard database. The second part teaches you how to
become a HyperCard author by building and designing new stacks. You will learn every-
thing you need to know about writing "scripts" in the HyperTalk language: how to
create them, how to use them, and how to plug in and customize preexisting scripts.

HyperCard Power; Techniques and Scripts is jam-packed with useliil tips and
tricks, and it includes complete, usable scripts tor merging stacks, adding a new card,
generating bar codes, creating automatic indexes, creating a pictorial index, and much
more- It also includes step-by-stcp tutorials to show you how to;

* use pictures, buttons, and sounds to enhance your stacks
){( copy and paste buttons and sounds

:{t write scripts to link buttons, include visual effects, sort cards, and more
4c use FatBits to work on tine detail in Paint documents
if import and export text tu and from other applications

Useful appendices include HyperCard windows and commands, and an index
summarizes all of the hints contained in the book.

Carol Kaehler has over five years' experience as a technical writer at Apple
Computer. Inc. She is the author of the popular MacPaint and MacProject manuals
and of the avrard-winning Macintosh Plus owner's manual. Carol

was apart of the HyperCard development team and, working
with Bill Atkinson, wrote and designed the HyperCard on line
Help system.

Covf r design hy Dolibcr Skeffington

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